Rome Bytes

To tie up some loose ends:

• The Jury is officially out on whether B16 smokes. Some claim "20 Marlboro reds a day," others highly doubt it, nobody knows for sure... This is like the "Does he have cats?" question: 1. Who cares? and 2. It's not going anywhere soon. For what it's worth, it doesn't seem like someone who's had the health problems Ratzi has would do a pack a day.
  
• The Pope (et famille) are now at Castel Gandolfo, so the rhythm of audiences and more "official" business might pick up a bit, especially as everyone waits for the other shoe to drop. It was foreseen that Georg Ratzinger ("Big Georg") would be joining his usual vacation partner for their traditional summer respite, just with a slight change of venue. I'm told Ratzi made some kind of slip during yesterday morning's Angelus. He started laughing and the crowd laughed with him, and then things moved forward. But did Georg bring the cat plates to make it feel like home?
  
• It has been noted that, at the meeting with the priests at Introd last week, there wasn't a whole lot of black to be found in the room. One could see blues, greys, short-sleeved polos and simple white button-downs. And did the Pope scream at the priests for not wearing clerical dress? Did he imply a sense of dissatisfaction? No and no. To the contrary, he was quite enthused and happy to be there, as his remarks indicate.
  
• And the last word is this: Rumors of Gessica's coronation are greatly exaggerated. Don't believe everything you read.

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