In the words of the immortal bard: “D’oh!”
Americans received the news this week that, according to an Associated Press report on a Vatican news announcement: “Homer Simpson is part of the pope’s flock.”
That’s right.
L’Osservatore Romano has leaked to the world that Homer is Catholic.
But that’s not all.
So is Bart Simpson.
The Italian column is the “latest example of the Vatican paper’s efforts to be more relevant in the last few years, and follows stories not only lauding Harry Potter but even praising the Beatles and waxing philosophical about John Lennon’s boast that the British band was more popular than Jesus.”
Wait a minute. Even Lennon back-pedaled on that last one.
But the Rome press isn’t just making this stuff up.
“The paper quoted an analysis by a Jesuit priest, the Rev. Francesco Occhetta, discussing Homer’s and his son Bart’s conversion in a 2005 episode after meeting with a sympathetic priest, Father Sean, voiced by actor Liam Neeson.”
Man,
Liam Neeson.
That sounds serious.
Not only that, but the paper makes the Simpsons seem almost wholesome.
“‘The Simpsons’ remain among the few programs for children in which the Christian faith, religion and the question of God are recurring themes,” it said. “The family recites prayers together before meals and, in its own way, believes in heaven.”
So there you have it. Another vexing issue settled in our times.
What is truly sad is”
• 1 — The Simpsons probably DO know more about faith than many Americans, and,
• 2 — They are probably more real to many Americans that people who actually do get up off the couch and go to church.
It is truly a statement about our society, and it’s not a complimentary one.
— Chuck Smith