Newsy: Pope: Homer Simpson is Catholic

The Vatican Newspaper declared that to be a fact in its weekend edition, under the headline, “Homer and Bart are Catholic.”

Are Homer Simpson and his whole family Catholic? The Vatican Newspaper declared that to be a fact in its weekend edition, under the headline, “Homer and Bart are Catholic.”

“‘The Simpsons are among the few TV programmes for children in which Christian faith, religion, and questions about God are recurrent themes.’ The family ‘recites prayers before meals and, in their own peculiar way, believes in the life thereafter.’” (The Telegraph)

The source of this determination is a 2005 episode called “The father, the son, and the holy guest star,” and the Jesuit priest who studied it says the show has “themes of Catholicism.” But according to ABC News, producers of the show say no way: “However, executive producers say you gotta be kidding me, they actually go to a church on the show called Presbylutheran First Church of Springfield and we have been pretty clear that Homer is not a catholic.”

A writer for the Miami Herald says the Vatican is just trying to stay relevant -- saying the announcement ... “...follows stories not only lauding Harry Potter but even praising the Beatles and waxing philosophical about John Lennon's boast that the British band was more popular than Jesus.”

For Russia’s RT, Alyona Minkovski says that the Vatican is trying to seem more accessible to the younger population: “Yes, this an attempt by the church to appear hip and cool because if the Simpsons are Catholics, then you totally should be too.”

While the Vatican says the show has themes of Catholicism, others say the church missed the point entirely, especially when it comes to that 2005 episode. A blogger for Starcasm says... “The episode is all about the absurdity of the separate factions of Christianity being at odds with each other. In the end the Simpsons don’t belong to any one creed. The most fault-filled family in television history belong to all of us. ... Sorry Pope, this family ain’t your property.”

So what do you think? Bart and Homer -- TOTALLY Catholic dude? Or -- DOH!

Writer: Kelsey Kind

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