The refugee Pope

A Christmas appeal.

At this time of year, our thoughts naturally turn to the plight of refugees, and I want to highlight the case of Jorge, an Argentinian priest.

Jorge fled to Italy about six years ago, changed his name to Francis to evade the Argentinian Secret Service, TANGO, and has since been unable to go home. If he returns to Argentina, he is likely to be arrested and asked all sorts of embarrassing questions about his activities there. So he has been working in Rome, in an administrative job that is clearly beyond him, waiting for the day when he will be able to return home.

Jorge (masked for his own protection).

Jorge's religion is a simple Pachamama-based worship, as is usual for the indigenous people of South America. However, he has been under severe pressure to adopt the right-wing imperialistic colonialist fascist Catholic religion, as founded by that not-very-Socialist man Christ, who is styled the "King" by his followers, rather than a humble "Comrade" or "Citizen Jesus".

Pachamama bishops refuse Communion as they don't believe in it.

Jorge wants nothing more to live a humble lifestyle, perhaps taking aeroplane trips once a month to destinations worldwide (not Argentina!), being addressed as "Holy Father", and worshipping in his own unique manner, making up doctrine whenever he feels like it. Is it too much to ask for your support here?

The Advent Calendar

So, finally, we reach day 24 of Advent, and all the little windows on my spiritually nourishing Advent calendar have been opened.

We see here all that is best in contemporary Catholicism. None of that rigid stuff with Jesus and the Apostles, the Saints, the Martyrs, or the Doctors of the Church - although at least two of the people on the calendar humbly expect to become saints when they die, one is a martyr to flatulence, and two more think they will be doctors of the Church.

Who can these top Catholics be?

The pictures include two puppets (not counting you, Austen!) and one heathen idol; one pope and two future popes; an expert on human flourishing; the two fattest cardinals since Wolsey; at least two people who are certifiably insane; and a man with a lampshade on his head.

However, the makers of the calendar have excluded all dangerously rigid and merciless Catholics: so no Benedict XVI, no Sarah, no Schneider, no Burke, no Viganò, no Festing, etc. etc.

And a happy Christmas to all readers!

The Eccles crèche, with the unusually large king.

Has Francis been replaced by an android?

Various theories have been advanced about the mysterious device seen attached to Pope Francis, as observed on Marco Tosatti's lovely blog. Is it a radio, enabling him to receive instructions from his controller, Fr Spadaro? Could it be a medical device, allowing the Pope to operate at a faster rate than the average 83-year-old? Or is it simply a communicator produced by the primitive indigenous peoples of South America, enabling him to stay in touch with Pachamama?

That mystery object.

No, in fact the truth is (probably) rather different. When the St Gallen Mafia arranged for Jorge Bergoglio to become Pope, they also constructed an android, which was programmed with all the knowledge and experience of that great cardinal. Bergoglio himself had said many times that he did not wish to be Pope, so, when the white smoke emerged, they hurriedly dressed the android in papal robes and pushed it out onto the balcony of St Peter's. The mystery object is an electronic component that is not usually visible.

At first, the android performed reasonably well. However, gradually some electronic faults began to develop - writing Amoris Laetitia caused the circuitry to overheat; more problems were seen when the android was placed in an aeroplane, and the plane's electronic components caused it to produce random teachings; desperate attempts by Baldisseri and his fellow-engineers to rewire the Pope simply led to more errors.

A hitherto unpublished picture of Pope Francis.

In the last week or two, more degradation of performance has been noted. The Martini 2.0 filter that was fitted has started to malfunction; the Sign of the Cross relays are getting rusty; there is an overloading of the Pachamama diodes; the Catholicism over-ride has stopped working; and the infallibility chip is in danger of catching fire.

Quick - can someone reverse the polarity of the neutron flow, before it is too late?

Pope Francis addresses the Curia

Dear brothers and sisters,

Start with something friendly. Usually you insult them for twenty minutes without a break, and it doesn't go down well.

You are awful, but I like you! God commands us to love everyone, even time-serving wastrels such as yourselves, so I do love you. Honestly. Have a good Christmas, or Eid, or Hanukah, according to choice! Just don't overeat, you fat slobs.

"Remember Christendom no longer exists. Least of all in Rome."

Hmm, not bad, that seems to have won them over. How about some Process Theology now? I know it's heretical, but dress it up in scientific language.

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Francis. Its ten-year mission, to initiate processes, to avoid occupying spaces, and to give birth to new historical dynamics. To boldly go where no Church has gone before.

After all, E=mc²; on the other hand time wastes our bodies and our wits but we waste time so we are quits. In the immortal words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, "May the Force be with you". Or as R2D2 put it, "Bleep, bleep, bleep!" And I think there is a message there for all of us.

A true prophet.

Brilliant. Now, a tribute to Cardinal "shaken but not stirred" Martini. After all, he was the arch-modernist whose St Gallen group got you the job.

Cardinal Martini, in his last interview, a few days before his death, said something that should make us think: "The Church is two thousand years behind the times, still following teachings from the first century. We need to change everything. Socialism, liberation theology, revolution. Give Baal a chance!" Makes you think, doesn't it?

Martini (or Baal).

Wind up with a grumble about rigidity. That always goes down well.

As many gymnasts will tell you, rigidity is a great temptation, which must be resisted. It leads to imbalance, and falling off the high bar. The same applies in Catholicism. Keeping the same religious opinions for years on end, just because they are traditional Christian teaching, leads to erecting fences on the terrain of common good, turning it into a minefield of incomprehension and hatred. That's how minefields are created - ask any engineer.

Wind up now, they're getting bored.

Well I would bless you with the sign of the cross, but I find that very rigid. So I'd just like to thank you for watching me and my little show here tonight. If you've enjoyed it, then it's all been worthwhile. So, until we meet again, good night, and I love you all!

How to worship a life-jacket

We continue our series on "How to be a good Pope" with more advice for any of our readers who may at some stage be invited to give spiritual leadership to millions around the world.

Today, it's life-jackets (or life-vests, if you prefer). For years you have been riding round the world in aeroplanes, telling the other passengers (who simply wanted you to shut up so that they could watch the in-flight movie) the truth about sin and redemption climate change and plastic straws.

You became jealous of the flight attendants who got to demonstrate the oxygen masks and life jackets. After all, nobody questions their teaching - there are no flight attendants sending in dubia to ask whether the masks should provide laughing gas instead, or the life jackets be made of lead. But when you speak out, every word is analysed and intepreted in different ways.

Praise to the holy life-jacket!

Your scheme to replace the Virgin Mary with Pachamama didn't go down too well, and indeed your idols were thrown into the Tiber (without life-jackets). But replacing Christ on the Cross with a life-jacket is going to be a real winner!

Curiously, Christ is one of the few people in history who would never have needed a life-jacket, as He could walk on water; but that is purely coincidental.

Now, some critics might call you a "loony" for distorting an instantly-recognisable symbol of your faith in this way. So, make up a cover story, something about migrants drowning, if you like. It's currently Catholic teaching that this is a bad thing - although the precedent of Jonah suggests that perhaps the answer to the problem is to fill the Mediterranean with giant fish - so anyone who criticises the elevation of the blessed life-jacket "Jacketamama" to the Cross is obviously a complete fascist who likes nothing more than drowning his fellow men.

This scheme should be a winner, and it will keep people's attention occupied while you smuggle out an apostolic exhortation telling people what you wish the Amazon Synod had decided.

O Peter! I told you to put on a life-jacket!

Harry Potter and the Curse of Woke

All royalties to be divided equally with J.K. Rowling.

"Harry (he him), have you met the new pupil, Doris Trans?" asked Hermione (she, her). "She was born as Boris Trans, but don't call her that. Apparently, a great wizard cast a spell on her, and she is now female!"

A bearded giant strode into the room. "Hi, guys, gals, and others!" she said. "Professor Dumbledore (he, him, most of the time) has said I can use the girls' changing rooms; I'm looking forward to taking up ladies' boxing and wrestling, and smashing girls' heads in."

The beautiful Doris Woke.

Just then Hagrid entered the room, carrying a huge trunk. "Hey, Boris," he said, "here's your luggage!"

"You transphobic BIGOT!" said Doris, knocking Hagrid unconscious with a single blow of her delicate fists.

Quick as a flash, Hermione reacted. Trying out a new spell for the first time she waved her wand and shouted "CIS TRANS". Instantly, everyone in the room began to identify with the opposite gender: Harriet Potter (she, her), Hismione Granger (he, him), Boris Trans (he, him), and the lovely but rather stunned Hagrida (she, her).

Professor Snape, who was just passing, caught a weakened form of the spell, and became convinced that he or she was now a member of all genders simultaneously.

"You'll be punished for this, Miss, er, Mr Granger!"

That evening Dumbledore decided to take action, and he used the Sorting Hat to classify each of the pupils into one of the four main genders: male, female, transmale, and transfemale. This just left Draco Malefem, who insisted that zi was Two-Spirit Fluid Bi-Pan-Sexual, and would need to use both bathrooms simultaneously.

But where did that leave Lord (or Lady) Voldemort? Nobody knew.

Author's note: this is supposed to be a spiritually nourishing blog, so we end with a quotation from Jeremiah 13:23.

"Can the leopard change his spots, or the man his chromosomes?"

Fr James Martin tries Conversion Therapy

The subject of "Conversion Therapy" or "Reparative Therapy" is controversial, and according to that top papal adviser Fr James Martin LGBTSJ, "such programs have been discredited by nearly every reputable psychiatrist, cause immense psychological harm to people, and 'cure' nothing."

Thus it came as a surprise when Fr Jim knocked on the door of the Dr Eccles Clinic and demanded conversion.

The patient, before Conversion Therapy.

We strapped him down in a chair, attached electrodes to him, and injected him with Ecclesine, the new wonder conversion drug.

Day 1. The patient begins to revise his views on Biblical teaching. He concedes that perhaps Jesus did not get His best ideas from the Canaanite Woman, and that maybe after all Mary Magdalene was not "the Church" between the time of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.

Day 2. The patient admits that it is just possible that the Holy Spirit is male, and not female.

Day 3. Big strides forward. The patient burns his collection of Pachamama idols, and the collected works of Austen Ivereigh. He admits that America Magazine is "rubbish from beginning to end".

"This garden-gnome will have to go!" says Fr Jim.

Day 4. Another success! Fr Jim starts regretting his obsession with LGBT issues, and says that "building bridges" is not the answer. He doesn't quite go as far as admitting the existence of sin, but things are looking promising.

Day 5. Another surprising statement from Fr Jim: "Thomas Merton was a dirty old man and a heretic!" He decides to abandon his Jesuit membership, and says that "Ignatian Yoga destroys your soul and causes hernias."

Day 6. We try giving the patient a Bible, a Penny Catechism, and a copy of the Eccles blog. This proves to be too much at this early stage, and he is rushed into intensive care, suffering from an overdose of Spiritual Nourishment.

Day 7. The patient is given a copy of the Catholic Herald, and manages to digest it without becoming feverish. Soon he will be ready for undiluted Catholicism.

Surely that's a Catholic priest?

Day 8. The Conversion is Complete! Fr Jim is now a fully orthodox Catholic. Perhaps, indeed, we have gone too far: he is reading all the conservative blogs and making derogatory comments about Amoris Laetitia. What would Pope Francis say?

Brexodus 20 - Bosis smiteth the Corbynites

Continued from Chapter 19.

1. Thus in the seventh month Bosis became the leader of the Conservatites, and was charged with leading the children of Bri-tain out of the land of EU-gypt.

2. And he appointed wise counsellors: Sajidiah the chancellor, Dominic the Raabi as secretary for foreigners, and Priti of Patmos as secretary for homes.

3. And Bosis spake unto the Pharaoh Juncker, saying, "The deal of Maysis is not welcome unto us, and if we must, we shall leave without any deal at all. But in any case, we shall leave on the last day of the tenth month."

4. And straightaway there came the season of holy days, and the members of the House of common people went to the Red Seaside with their buckets and spades, and thought how they might cross it.

The Red Sea.

5. But now many men began to desert the troops of Bosis. These included Ken-neth the clerk, Philip of Ham-mon, Nicho-las the Soamanite, and Amber the ruddy one. These were known as "big beasts", especially Nicho-las.

6. And Bosis said "Hitherto I have chastised ye with whips, but now I shall chastise ye with scorpions." But he had no scorpions, and the big beasts reamined unchastised, without the whip.

7. Moreover, John of Ber-cow, he that was called the speaker, whose every word was "Order! Order!" vowed to stop the Brexodus by fair means or foul. For this is called "impartiality".

8. So Bosis said, "May this for a lark be stuffed, and let us send the members of the House of common people back to the Red Seaside, to a place called Pro-rog, that they thwart me not."

9. But at that time the children of Bri-tain were really being ruled by Judges. Thus, in the courts of the supreme, it was decided that the House of common people must leave Pro-rog, and return to work.

10. And all the people rejoiced, for is not the word of an unelected judge to be preferred above the word of an elected leader?

The judges dress up as tigers in order to frighten Bosis.

11. Now Bosis returned from the Pharaoh with a new deal, and he vowed once again to leave at the end of the tenth month.

12. But, owing to a series of events which are too complex for this book, especially if it is to be read out at Mass when people are thinking of something else, he was unable to leave.

13. For Oliver the Lost One, aided by Ber-cow the speaker, forced Bosis to write to the Pharaoh Juncker and Donald Ivereigh-Tusk, saying "We wish to remain in the land of EUgypt for a bit longer, as we are having such a great time."

14. And Bosis sent the letter, but refused to sign it. Indeed, he sent a second letter, saying, "Please ignore the first letter for I was being tortured when I wrote it."

15. However, the Pharaoh guessed that the first letter was from Bosis, and granted him a few more months of servitude.

Bosis maketh things perfectly clear.

16. In the end the House of common people, having debated for three years on the question of Brexodus, agreed to dissolve itself, and allow the children of Bri-tain to elect new leaders.

17. And Ber-cow vowed to speak no more. Although he was later heard speaking on the visions of Tele.

18. Thus there were four main tribes involved in the election: the Conservatites of Bosis, the Corbynites of Jeremiah (he who hated the children of Israel), the Liberated Democratites of Josephine, and the Scottites of the north, who worshipped a giant sturgeon.

19. So for forty days and forty nights the four tribes put forth their empty promises ("a camel in every home", "handmaidens to satisy your every wish", "a land flowing with milk and honey") to the children of Bri-tain. And the children of Bri-tain threw their words into the burning fiery furnace.

Bosis meeteth his adversaries, including the Count of Binface, at the bridge of Ux.

20. So finally, in the middle of the twelfth month, the people showed their wishes by writing a mighty "X" on the papers of ballot.

21. And, when the votes were counted, it was seen that Bosis had vanquished the Corbynites. Also, Josephine the Democratite was cast into the outer darkness, as were many other famous men, including Chukhas Ur-money and some of the big beasts.

22. Thus Bosis was granted five more years in which to leave the land of EUgypt. If he could.

Continued in Chapter 21.

Destruction of the idol Pachabanana

Allies of Pope Francis have been reacting furiously to the news that an art work, "Pachabanana", consisting of a banana taped to the wall, has been eaten.

"Hail to thee, Pachabanana!"

Bought by Cardinal Becciu Investments Inc. for $120,000, the Pachabanana idol is a fruit of the recent Amazonian Synod, being part of the indigenous culture of Latin America. At the synod, Pope Francis took part in a service at which the participants worshipped the banana. Its skins have even been exported to the Slipper chapel at Walsingham in England, "to make it more slippery".

The eater of the Pachabanana has been variously described as a "vandal", a "fascist", an "insult to the Virgin Mary" by the usual suspects, and Pope Francis is also said to be annoyed.

Alexander Tschugguel, The desecrator of Pachabanana.

In other news, the Vatican has been spending its "Peter's Pence", donated by the faithful, on making movies. The first one is said to be a porno film about the life of   Fr James Martin, starring Elton John   Elton John, starring Fr James Martin.

It is expected that the Vatican's second film will be "The Pachamama family", the wacky story of a dysfunctional family, consisting of Pachapapa, Pachamama, and the twins Pacha-Austen and Pacha-Dawn. When Pachagranny decides to come and stay, there are hilarious consequences, and Pachamama is pushed into the river!

The sex life of the Jesuit

We are grateful to Fr James Martin for drawing our attention to a survey which claims that "...same-sex behaviour is bound up in the nature of animal sex. It hasn't had to continually re-evolve: It's always been there."

Fr Jim is of course mentioning this as part of his campaign to get LGBT stuff accepted as normal, natural, not sinful, just as good as heterosexual behaviour, perhaps even better, how dare you boycott our Pride marches, let's make sure children learn about it from an early age, ...you bigots!

So we decided the time had come to write about the sex life of the Jesuit, a creature which evolved comparatively recently from the ape kingdom (1534 or thereabouts), and was known initially for its spiritual exercises, which later evolved into Ignatian yoga.

Two Jesuits engaging in Ignatian yoga.

Jesuits are a male-only species, so it is not clear how they manage to breed (possibly, they are born as mutations from other humanoid species). They often live in single-sex communes, and - if we are to believe Fr Jim - they enjoy a perfectly natural sex life.

The dominant male of the pack (sometimes called a pope, superior general, or perhaps bishop) is usually an old man, and he does not normally engage in any activity beyond the uttering of incomprehensible grunts and the worship of strange objects. The younger Jesuits swear an oath of obedience to him, after which they are free to engage in single-sex activities. The more active Jesuits are often engaged in struggles for dominance, and it is said that they bend the youngest members, the seminarians, to their will. Sometimes they carry them off to their lairs (for example, beach houses) in order to practice "discernment" with them.

Natural Historian David Attenborough does the "sign of peace" with a Jesuit.

Jesuits are attracted by bright colours, for example rainbow-themed clothes, but are commonly seen dressed in black. Sometimes they can even be mistaken for human beings, at least until they start talking.

Since this is a family blog, we shall not go into the sordid details of their rituals (no doubt there is a David Attenborough television programme about them), but if we mention the words "accompaniment", "discernment", "spiritual exercise" and "missionary", I think most readers will know what I mean.

No more old Catholics to be canonized

A decision has come down from the Vatican that only Catholics inspired by the Spirit of Vatican II will henceforth be eligible for canonization. "We let Newman through the gate, but that's the last one," said a spokesman. "From now on only modernists can become saints. The next one will probably be Cardinal Martini."

The first victim of this new rule is Archbishop Fulton Sheen, who was due to be beatified in a few weeks time, now that his body has been wrested from the pudgy grip of Cardinal Dolan. The USCCB have pointed out that it is almost unheard-of for an American bishop to have lived a life of purity and decency ("We've all got boyfriends," claimed one bishop), and so there must be something nasty in Sheen's history.

Fulton Sheen appears on "What's my line" and writes down his occupation.

Elizabeth the Scalier, also known as the Angriest, who has left Patheticos and now works for Bishop Barron's "Throw our words into the fire" empire, has come up with the suggestion that perhaps Sheen had some homosexual relations in his CV.

It is believed that in a few days time she will have come up with more imaginative speculations - possibly the existence of a beach house in which seminarians were abused. Obvuously, mere homosexual activity is not considered a bar to canonization these days, indeed in some Jesuit circles it is really a sine qua non.

No doubts about Cardinal Martini (a.k.a. Baal)!

Pope says that sad people are not Christians

Pope Francis has declared that sad people are not Christians, so let's all be cheerful, guys, and we'll be saved!

Someone (I can't remember who), once said, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." Still, the Holy Father knows best in these matters, and from now on it's laughter all the way!

The Pope is giving a happy smile, but you may be too sinful to see it.

Some readers will recall that the recent Amazon synod featured some notorious wooden idols, but we can now reveal that they were delivered by mistake. In fact the Vatican had ordered statues of the famous Pollyanna, patron saint of unjustifiable optimism, but... you know... administrative errors... It seemed best to carry on and hope that nobody noticed.

All readers still happy? Got a jolly grin on your face? Excellent!

Probably the most Christian person of all.

Now, where were we? Oh yes, requiem masses. It won't do, you know. When people die, we should be happy because they are guaranteed to go to Heaven (unless they have committed some very grave sin, such as turning on the central heating in winter). So, no more of this rigid unChristian "Requiem eternam" stuff, please, and let's all burst out into a chorus of "Happy days are here again!"

Pope Francis's top adviser, Fr James Martin, concurs. "Everyone should be gay!" he says - and you can't get much more authoritative than that!

Another group of saintly Christians.

Austen Ivereigh also backs the Pope. "Every time I show people my new book on Pope Francis, they burst out laughing!" he says. "I feel that my writing is bringing more people to Christ."

So there you have it. From now on, it's laughter all the way. "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ho, ho, ho, ho, tee hee, tee hee, chuckle, chuckle, chuckle," as the new hymn by Dan Schutte has it.

Ho ho ho! St Nicholas shows the way.