Deus Caritas Est

Theologian, philosopher, professor, priest--the images of the late and great JPII don't usually include a silly-faced Pole at play before the camera. Then again, that's exactly what he was at times. Most people didn't notice the antics and laughs that hid behind the Latin and swirling clouds of incense.

I decided to post this pic because the average Joe and Janet tends to think that popes, and by extension the Church, lacks a funny bone. Yet here it is in strict and jovial defiance of those who charge the Church with Puritanical tendencies. The evidence doesn't hold up though. JP and his Church never did and doesn't intend to deny pleasure, beauty, and holy humor. It's all good. That is, as long as it all points to God and not away from him. So the next time the leader of a billion Christians goes for the funny bone just remember that comedy is not that far from Godliness.