Poking fun at the pope: Satire sparks debate over limits of humor

Published: 2006-11-17

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Italians have a long history of satirizing the papacy, but recent gibes at Pope Benedict XVI and his personal secretary have ignited a national debate over the limits of humor. A running sketch on a popular Italian TV show portrays the white-haired pope as a capricious egotist who complains about always having to wear white and giggles as he types out excommunication edicts. A radio comedian has the pope shooting pigeons above St. Peter's Square -- because they "bother people who have to work" -- and tossing burning candies down at children. Meanwhile, another radio show impersonator has found a comic target in the papal secretary, Msgr. Georg Ganswein, who comes off as a vain lightweight -- he dreams of being a circus acrobat, but worries that it might mess up his hair. In mid-November, the Catholic newspaper Avvenire decided it had seen and heard enough. It said the parodies of the pontiff and his secretary were vulgar and grotesque and in some ways represented a cheap shot at the church.

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