A religious observation:: 1591

Promiscuous women may become nuns to feign reform, while obsessive men may enter religion due to some stimulus or excitement. This is why the "schools of clear purity" are always hotbeds of promiscuous and perverted people.

--From the Caigentan--

I think the Catholic Church could cut down on many of its problems (lack of priests, sex scandals) if it allowed all of its priests to be married. I say "all" because it already allows some married men to be ordained as priests.

The Pope: 1823

Pope. A figure burned every fifth of November, in memory of the gunpowder-plot, which is. said to have been carried on by the papists.

--From Grose's classical dictionary of the vulgar tongue--

Something tells me the Europeans of a few generations ago would have had a much different response to Muslim extremists than those of today.

The Pope, 1860 edition

Alarming Accident to the Pope

His Holiness, in promenading yesterday on the Corso, met with a sad accident. His foot slipping in a puddle of blood, he fell and broke his head. The accident has been pronounced to be a fracture of the temporal bone.

--From Punch, or The London Charivari--

That was supposed to be a joke, from a publication similar to Mad Magazine, but much more serious and political. Almost every issue piled scorn upon His Holiness.



I suppose this is the price you may have to pay if you insist on mixing your politics and your religion.