When the Pope's Away....

Father Gibson sends along this gem:

Photographs of senior Vatican clerics chilling out on a beach near Rome have been raising chuckles in Italy. Divested of their formal, flowing robes, the right-hand men of Pope Benedict XVI were indistinguishable from other beachgoers enjoying the pleasures of the seaside.

Frolicking in the waves and soaking up the sun it was obvious, however, that priestly dress can hide a multitude of sins. In swimming trunks, the ecclesiastical figures were distinctly portly and had clearly been indulging in too much pasta and not enough exercise....

Pope Benedict recently extolled the virtues of holidays in order to regain spiritual equilibrium. His cardinals and bishops seem to have taken his comments to heart.

I haven't seen these shots, I don't want to see them. Things like this are best kept hidden.... Behold, a rare manifestation of bella figura on my part.

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