Benny & The Jets

Actually, it's "journalists", but "jets" seems way cooler for a title.

In fairness to His Popefulness B16, John Allen - not of "The Allen Review" which counted Her Hotness Delia Gallagher amongst its esteemed prior editors - but John Allen of NCR and another CNN Vaticanologist who sometimes looked like a cardboard cutout placed right next to Delia on my TV screen - yes, That John Allen! - wrote in more details the extent of Eggs Benedict's current week teachings. Okay, so His Popefulness delved into SO much more than just gays and condoms - that "in his 48,978 words of teaching as of June 9, Benedict XVI had used the word "sex" exactly once, while the word "Africa," mostly in the context of an appeal for attention to the problems of Africa, appeared 11 times."

That the journalists who cover the Vatican focused on 2 issues only - gay marriage and AIDS prevention - Allen postulated was not really fair to B16's broader message of love, family, and all that jazz. And that morons like me would then bite and rant and feel alienated is an unfortunate consequence of the journalists' irresponsible "pick and choose" reporting.

I don't know what the 48,978 words were, and right now, even if my life depended on it, I would not have time to read the whole damn thing. So I skiff though news wires and hope that I am informed and then go through my daily grind. That's the reality outside of the Vatican. Why Pope Benedict's pronouncements still merit my attention is another matter altogether: I was baptized, confirmed, educated by This Church and damned would I be if I stopped caring. Although sometimes, I have to admit it's getting harder and harder to care because the Church seems to be drifting farther and farther away from me (not the other way around).

I'm not sure if Her Hotness Delia Gallagher still writes for Zenit or anywhere else. She's always been a fair writer, sometimes too fair to the point of detachment. But being a Vaticanologist, she understandably has to tread that fine line between responsible journalism and editorial integrity (or else, no more hard pass for you, Signorina!). That is definitely not an easy thing to do.