Holy Smoke!

Since the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and the appointment of new Pope Franko has proved to be "manna from heaven" for jokers, with thousands of people grabbing the opportunity to poke gentle fun at the pontiff. Often the joke ties in other events. One of the best is "You know the economy is bad when even God is laying people off." As a nation we tend to make jokes about most items on the news - as long as it is not a tragic event. If it is a tragic event then there is a sort of period of mourning before the jokes start to show up. Sometimes I think that telling a joke about a tragedy, helps people come to terms with the event. 

It seems that texting-a-joke on your mobile is the latest way for jokes to spread. I got one a few days ago - "The day I take sex advice from an 82-year-old virgin pope, is the same day I take parenting advice from Kate and Gerry McCann." Most people would accept the current flurry of pope jokes because the outgoing one is still alive. However, at first I thought the McCann bit was in bad taste. I remarked about it to my phone-a-friend. He said - every time someone reads the joke - they remember the McCann story and it helps to remind us that the child is still missing. Maybe it is tasteless but it has a very important effect.

Then there are the visual jokes such as the one about George W Bush - a man well known for being thick. 

1. Why do people make jokes about the church leader - come on - is the Pope a Catholic?
2. I would make a pope joke but there is already a mass.
3. Why doesn't the Pope use cash? Because he uses Papal.
4. Maybe the pope quit to spend more time with his wife and kids?
5. He could be the next Chelsea manager to provide the miracle they need to win the title.
6. How much sex does a pope get? Nun!
7. The Pope sacrificed himself to save the world from horse jokes.
8. Withdrawing early is terribly Catholic of him.
9. The Pope resigned. I believe he broke a cardinal sin.
10. You will be going to hell for smirking!

But maybe the pope jokes are a McCann like reaction to the bad news about various senior members of the catholic church and their sexual activities with children and members of their congregation.

Let he without sin cast the first stone.

Later...