Habemus Papam are the words the world will be hearing before too long, when a new pope is elected by the College of Cardinals at their conclave at the Vatican. This weekend, when a chimney was attached by the Vatican fire brigade (yes, a real thing) atop the roof of the Sistine Chapel, in Saint Peter’s Square, journalists in Rome flooded social media with the only news they could report in the days before papam: a chimney installation.
Waiting for smoke in Saint Peter’s Square pales in comparison with some of the fun people are having with the coming papal conclave. When the existence of a cardinal named Pierbattista Pizzaballa became widely known, the jokes about his potentially becoming the next pope started to fly: anyone who puts pineapple on pizza will be excommunicated; your second pizza will be free if it doesn’t arrive in 30 minutes or less; he will choose the name Papa John. Even the president of the United States got in on the game, jokingly telling a reporter that he would like to be pope — before posting on social media the now-infamous AI image of himself in papal regalia.
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