Hoping for a better Pope

Big buzz today about the sudden resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, who will forever be fixed in my mind as Pope Ratzo. It's a weird thing. I'm very attracted to the trappings of the Catholic church. Growing up as a Protestant in Italian neighborhoods, I was consumed with Catholic envy. They got the all the cool stuff. Holy water. Rosaries. Scapulars. Mysterious confessionals. The great pagent of first holy communion. Early release from school to get ashes. And the saints. Patron saints.

The pagentry was brilliant. But even then, I was never down with the Pope. The whole concept of an infallible man offended me. So have no emotional attachment to the office and little interest in the doings of the Holy See. Still, to the extent I paid attention, I did not like this Pope. I thought he was the worst one ever.

To be fair, he did advocate for some good social values when it came to caretaking tenets of the Christian faiths. However, he failed so miserably otherwise in advancing the Church's role in civil society that it overshadowed those few offerings. Think we're well rid of him. Can only hope the next one will be better.

Meanwhile, the news broke early this morning which immediately launched the social nets into a new Battle of the Witticisms. Have no idea what The Thick of It is, nor who Father Dougal might be. I'd guess it's even funnier if you know the reference. Still, even absent that knowledge, I've seen about a billion Pope jokes today and oddly found this one the funniest.