And Afterwards They Celebrated by Breaking Open a Festive Jew Piñata

Pope Benedict XVI is given a dove by Mustafa Sarigul, the mayor of the Sisli district in Istanbul, during a visit to Istanbul's Holy Spirit Cathedral December 1, 2006. Benedict's tour of Turkey winds up on Friday looking like an across-the-board success for his effort to repair battered relations with Turkey's Muslims. REUTERS/Stringer (TURKEY)

I love surprises, so I got kinda excited when I read this sentence in Reuter's report about the Pope's visit to Turkey:

"The Pope's dreaded visit was concluded with a wonderful surprise," wrote daily Aksam on its front page.

Yay! What was it? A stirring medley of show tunes? Flying Bicycles for everyone? A scantily-clad nun popping out of a cake? Sadly, no:

"In Sultan Ahmet Mosque, he turned towards Mecca and prayed like Muslims," popular daily Hurriyet said, using the building's official name.

That's it? The wonderful surprise was just the Pope pivoting on his Prada loafers and praying in a certain direction? And then *poof* it's all like the Crusades never happened? Seriously?

OMG, religion is soooo totally stupid.

I'm Liking This Pope More And More!

Inspired by this new wire photo:

I came up with an exciting new pair of characters!

But... How Does The Pope Really Feel About Yoga?

Well, it's hard to tell, as uggabugga points out.

Photoshoppers Respond Quickly To New Pope

Immediately, actually. First, here's the mysterious Invisible Kid (check out his beautiful photo blog!), who must have mixed up Joseph Ratzinger with John Ratzenberger:

And here's one from Barrump, who I think is some kind of drunken frog:

And CheekyMunky:

Thanks for letting me post your pics, Pony Pals™!

New Pope! OMG!

And with all the tension between the American Catholic Church and the Vatican, it's great that Ratzinger chose such a cuddly, America-friendly name like Benedict.

BREAKING! Pink Smoke Billowing From Sistine Chimney!

This Solemn Moment Brought To You By...

The best thing about watching something like the Pope's funeral on network TV is that, sooner or later, they have to break for a commercial. So how did WUSA, the CBS affiliate in DC, handle this awkward neccessity at 7AM this morning?

Well, think about it... it would be tacky to jump right into the normally-scheduled Bathfitter (fellow Washingtonians, you know what I mean), toilet paper, Geico and deodorant spots, wouldn't it?

WUSA's solution: a Jetblue-sponsored PSA and two innocuous movie ads, for Miss Congeniality 2 (Armed and Fabulous!) and A Lot Like Love. That's right! Ashton Kucher to the rescue!

Vote Tom DeLay For Pope!

Stable But Unstable, Serene Yet Alert