Defrocked bishops make Italy grin

Barbara McMahon in Rome
Sunday August 14, 2005
The Observer

One of the privileges of being a cardinal or a bishop is the wearing of the ornate liturgical vestments of the Catholic church: the elaborately embroidered chasuble, the white and black pallium, the scarlet silk biretta. Or, for a change, a racy pair of Speedo trunks.

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.

The senior officials of the Catholic church were relaxing on a stretch of pristine white sand called Palidoro at Passoscuro, near the Italian capital. No ordinary beach, it is Vatican property, accessible only to clerics and a few lucky guests. It has all the facilities priests need to unwind after a hard day at the pulpit: changing rooms to hang one's cassock, and deckchairs and sun umbrellas in the papal colours of yellow and white.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1548820,00.html

is frightening

Where all the BushCo Big Wigs chill.

Since Bush & Family are such a good pals with Pope Ratzinger, I'm sure the Defrocked Clergymen could wangle an invitation.

Good grief.