Papal Dignity
“The Pope shit his pants…”
Our readers may recall that a couple of weeks ago Pope Benedict XVI got himself into trouble with the Moslem world by citing a 6th Century Byzantine emperor to the effect that Islam was a religion rooted in violence. Islamic extremists, deeply offended, then moved to prove him wrong by gunning down a 70 year-old missionary nun in Somalia and setting fire to numerous Christian churches in the Middle East.
Since then, hardly a day has passed that the Pontefice has not affectionately received a delegation of Islamic notables, cuddled a dusky Moslem child or explained in one way or the other that his own personal opinion of Islam is quite different than the one he appeared to express. Moslems, he believes, should be treated with “esteem”.
The Italians have watched all this with bemusement. They cannot quite make out what the Pope thought he was doing when he called Islam “evil and inhuman”, even if he believed he was attributing the sentiment to someone long dead. They also think the resulting papal belly slithering has been somewhat exaggerated and will likely lead to even more trouble for the Church – and possibly for Italy – now that the Moslem world has discovered how easy it is to wind the man up.
The headline of a Leghorn satirical paper on the newsstands today, shown in the photo above, ”’R PAPA SE L’E’ FATTA SOTTO,” means, very inelegantly, “The Pope shit his pants.” The sub-head carries the qualifier: “But the Vatican minimizes: ERA SOLO UN PO’ DI CAARÈLLA,” – that is, in dialect, “It was only a little diarrhea.”