>... The pope has thrown a hand grenade and is now observing the response.
>...
Quoth the pope, "Let us prey!"
Funny thing, when Ratzinger took over last year I posted to the list, "All in all, I think Ratzo would a suitable target for fragging by the legendary Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch." Little did I know the pope himself would be deploying that sacred ordnance. To cite anew the original blessed text -- from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," a reading from the Book of Armaments, chapter two, verses nine to twenty-one:
"And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, 'O Lord, bless this Thy hand grenade that, with it, Thou mayest blow Thine enemies to tiny bits in Thy mercy.' And the Lord did grin, and the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies and orangutans and breakfast cereals and fruit bats .... And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.'"
Amen.
Carl