Pope hype is so 1950's
It's hard to believe how much attention is being paid by the American mainstream media to the election of the new Pope. It's always been that way, of course, but with the church in steep decline, we expected a more subdued reaction. In recent years the church hierarchy has been exposed as more or less an international pedophile ring, and there are fewer dollars in the collection plate than at any time anyone can remember. Why does CBS News still have its news anchor sitting in Vatican Square telling us which color smoke is coming out of the chimney? Do that many people still care?
Leno had a great line last night: "White smoke means they've elected a new Pope. Black smoke means they still haven't decided. And gray smoke means they're getting rid of evidence."
And now the Worm has shown up. Perfect. Order us a T-shirt.
| Posted at 1:45 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (5)
I was a kid in Chicago when Pope John Paul II was the first Pope to visit the city, and my parochial school let us all out that day to go see him. To this day, I still regret that I never took advantage of the various vendors selling all sorts of tawdry crap. I could have sold that Pope Soap on a Rope (a real item, I might add) for a fortune on eBay.
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | March 13, 2013 2:47 PM
The thing that amazes me is how fast the dissemination of this information has become.
The last time a pope resigned the position was 598 years ago. Imagine the time and methods of spreading news of the new pope's selection to the rest of the Catholic world in 1415.
Now we have the chimney cam on our smartphones.
Posted by reader | March 13, 2013 4:33 PM
Jack you forgot to mention the Sistine Chapel Seagull.
https://twitter.com/SistineSeagull
Posted by teresa | March 13, 2013 5:11 PM
Some BBC-toned reporter described the throng as "euphoric, but also apprehensive" concerning the 'scandal' and a complicated future ... as in filing bankruptcy? American-toned reporters I heard made effusive descriptions. Effusive and clueless.
Catholicism is not the only 'ornate religion' ending "in steep decline." They all are.
So much controlled delusion. So many wasted centuries.
Posted by Tenskwatawa | March 13, 2013 6:45 PM
Whenever I hear about colored smoke coming from a chimney on the Sistine Chapel, I get a mental image of some ornate extravagant edifice of a chimney.
When I see a picture of the actual chimney, it's a half-painted rusting piece of crap bolted onto the roof of an ornate extravagant edifice of a building.
I've seen nicer chimneys on a boiler from an 80 year old apartment building. The Church that hard up for tithes?
Posted by MachineShedFred | March 14, 2013 10:17 AM