Holy Pope, Batman!

Greetings,

If you haven’t heard by now, the Pope is here. By ‘here’ I mean in USAmerica. In fact he’s going to be in NYC, including Yankee Stadium. My hope is that holding mass at Yankee Stadium will help the pitching of the Bronx Bombers…but even God’s grace may not be enough :)

If you go to NYC, you might actually get to see his Holiness pass by in the Popemobile. From USAToday.com: “In New York on April 19, Benedict will ride about 22 blocks along Fifth Avenue from St. Patrick's Cathedral north to 72nd Street, to the residence of the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations, says Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York. The procession will be at 1:15 p.m.”

The Popemobile is actually a series of vehicles of various makes and models. The current one is a modified 2002 Mercedes-Benz M-class (see pic). The bulletproof glass started getting used after the 1981 assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II.

If you had an audience with the Pope what would you want to talk with him about? Given the opportunity I would no doubt come up with a bevy of sharp theological questions and inquisitions to ask him. But once I sat down with him, I would probably just cherish quietly sharing a slice of space and time with “il papa”. To be in his presence, and to know that he is in mine, would do more for my soul than grilling him on transubstantiation or needling him on homosexuality or female clergy (although these last two are important issues that I think Catholic doctrine is way wrong on).

But what would YOU do if you had an audience with the Pope? Let me know…I’d be interested to hear.

Peace,

Kevin