Rolling with the punches

Papa is in Rolling Stone. Which is not exactly what The Temptations sang in 1973, but then at that time who could have expected that the Pope — then Paul VI — would have been on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, the magazine of pop music, with occasional forays into cultural criticism?

Last week Pope Francis made the cover of Rolling Stone. For one whose mission is to succeed the rock upon whom Christ built His Church, Rolling Stone is something of a step down. But it’s not the Holy Father’s fault what magazine editors decide to make of him.

One will not be surprised by the analysis, such that it is, that Rolling Stone offers. The general gist is that Benedict XVI was bad, and mean, and nasty, rather like Freddy Krueger the slasher film villain. Francis, by contrast — and the piece is all about contrast — is good and fun, rather like Bill Clinton, to whom the Holy Father is compared favourably twice.