What's with all this crap about the Pope? I'm sick of this clown.

[rug]

By Alyssa Newcomb | ABC News Blogs – 2 hours 18 minutes ago

Pope Francis is having a picture perfect week.

The leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics donned a bright red nose and clowned around with a newlywed couple inside the Vatican on Wednesday.

The Argentine-born pontiff posed with the bride and groom, who are volunteers at a charity that brings clown therapy to sick children.

The lighthearted moment came hours after Pope Francis kissed and prayed with a severely disfigured man at the end of his general audience at St. Peter's Square.

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/see-pope-francis-clown-around-newlywed-couple-175406012--abc-news-topstories.html

[1000words]

1. The Vatican PR team is doing a masterful job.

The Church saw the writing on the wall: "Evolve or die."

Francis is a breath of fresh air.

[Jesus Malverde]

7. Great PR indeed, every time I saw the last guy I thought of the bad guys from star wars...nt

[NuclearDem]

10. Ah, Pope Palpatine.

[Jesus Malverde]

11. With the imperial march..nt

[Beacool]

2. I was about to come in defense of the Pope.

Tricky..........

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

3. For a pope....he's pretty cool nt

[awoke_in_2003]

32. Religion is, at its heart...

a money making operation. Profits are down, so it is time to re-invent themselves.

[roguevalley]

40. name a pope since john xxxIII who gave a damn about people enough to do

what he does. Find out about his reforms of the money machine and then you won't call this fundraising. He only cares about money enough to help people who are poor. If this were anyone doing a kindness I would applaud. That he is the pope is irrelevant. In fact, its slagging awesome considering his predecessors.

[840high]

35. I like him a lot.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

37. For a pope, I said....

He's still not "cool", really....

[840high]

38. He's so much better

than the last one.

[Vashta Nerada]

44. Yeah. He's a really cool dude.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/13/pope-francis-gay-marriage-anti_n_2869221.html

Pope Francis is a conservative who is anti-gay marriage and anti-gay adoption. He has described same-sex marriage as the work of the devil and a “destructive attack on God’s plan.” He has also said that gay adoption is a form of discrimination against children.

[graywarrior]

4. I'm still not convinced

but then, I'm a recovering Catholic.

[rug]

5. You're confusing him with someone else.

[graywarrior]

13. Who, pray tell?

Pray tell, get it?

[rug]

14. Didn't the picture load?

I'll try again.

[Glassunion]

15. Maybe Johnathan Pryce?

[rug]

16. That's uncanny.

[MADem]

52. Brother from another mother! nt

[JustAnotherGen]

54. That's eerie

[graywarrior]

20. Holy Shit!

[awoke_in_2003]

33. It is easy to tell the difference...

if a step daughter is present, it is Woody. If an alter boy is present, it is the pope.

[graywarrior]

47. HAHAHAHAHA!

[awoke_in_2003]

48. I am surprised...

I haven't got flamed on that one yet- both from catholics and Woody Allen fans

[Brainstormy]

8. me either

but then, I'm an atheist. Fawning over any religious leader turns my stomach.

[HockeyMom]

26. Same here as a former Catholic of 50 years

The Pope isn't the problem. It is their dogma.

[graywarrior]

30. You said it!

[Bradical79]

42. Well, I figure it's probably the best you can ask for

It's a political position voted on by a very small group of mostly conservative men. It's remarkable that someone like him was elected, who is trying to show true compassion and speak against the gratuitous wealth many in the church hierarchy have accumulated. Relative to past popes, I feel a lot better about Pope Francis.

[beachbum bob]

6. the best papal leader in

decades.

[Liberal Veteran]

9. He is so much better than Pope Rat. -nt

[spanone]

12. bwahahahahaaaa!!!!

[Vashta Nerada]

17. Yay! More photo ops!

[rug]

19. Here's a photo of demodex folliculorum to cheer you up.

[graywarrior]

21. Oh great, that's just fucking great!!!

[Voice for Peace]

27. it's best to just make friends with them.. they'll never move out

[graywarrior]

31. Yeah, but I'll be making friends with them late at night while tucked into

my dust mite infested bed.

[sarisataka]

23. THANKS

how the hell do you expect me to sleep tonight knowing that....

It took me three years to get used to this-

Freakin’ Fantastic Friday Fun Fact!

Did you know that the human gut (or intestines, or nom-nom highway, whatever you call it) contains over 1 quadrillion bacteria? That’s more cells than you have in your body by ten-fold, and one million times more than the number of people who have ever been alive on Earth. Those bacteria are estimated to have 100 times more genes among them than we have in our genome.

That’s just in one person’s gut. Makes you appreciate your next meal even more!

[Voice for Peace]

28. they are probably wondering if there is life in any other wormholes out there.

[KittyWampus]

34. so wormholes are just the intestines of the Universe?

[Voice for Peace]

41. it's a theory

I just made it up because it seemed more like a wormhole
than a planet.

[snort]

24. Gee, Rug.

What's eating you?

[Renew Deal]

25. lol

[Voice for Peace]

43. isn't there a song about this? folliculi, follicula?

"norman, norman, you're a rotten kid"

[adirondacker]

45. LMAO! Bet they're HUGE Red Sox fans! :)

[IrishAyes]

18. Thank you, Rug. Happy day indeed.

[annabanana]

22. Why do I picture Ratzinger sitting in a little cobwebby attic room

scowling and gnashing his teeth?

[Voice for Peace]

29. has he been seen in public since his..um... retirement?

[Walk away]

36. Are we still pretending that this poor deluded man is the Pope????

I thought the Pope lived with his hottie boyfriend in a bunker/small palace in Vatican City. That way he can run the works and avoid answering those tricky questions about covering up child rapists.

This Francis seems like a photo op/beard imported in to pull stunts like this and make Catholics feel good about themselves again. I just wonder how long it will be before Ratzenberg and the Bishops start up their child abuse factory again.

[elfin]

39. Rhetoric SEEMS softer - rules the same

MSM swoons with hope that the new guy signals a more tolerant stance. But no, more of the same with a kinder face and public actions.

Minor restructuring of the Vatican Bank and more kindly speaking of gays are made to be a much bigger deal than is true.

If he makes REAL moves, he will be dead. Profitable PR until then.

Maybe he is something truly different. I hope so, but unconvinced thus far as to global changes in dogma. Yet, he is a much better person in his perceived actions than predecessors so far.

[blkmusclmachine]

46. Good PR, but the same bad rightwing Policy as the RCC has always had.

They're just being more clever. Some say more deceitful...

[lobodons]

49. Being There Part 2 "The Vatican"

Being There Part 2 "The Vatican"

[Demo_Chris]

50. He knows kids love clowns. nt

[Lint Head]

51. The pedophilia comments and jokes seem to disappeared from the media.

Excellent PR.

[thelordofhell]

53. You mean like this........