Me as pope. It's downright funny.

The picking of a new pope is no big deal. For me, that is. No surprise. Because I’m not Catholic. Nor ever will be. I’ll remain a free-thinker. Steering clear of organized religion. Of course, I’m living in Italy at the moment. Where picking a pope is a big deal. Italians pay attention. I was supposed to buy a copy of the liberal newspaper La Repubblica for my Italian true love. So she could devour all the details about the new pope. Unfortunately, I waited till later in the day to get to the newsstands. The papers were sold out. Long ago. Yes, Italians take their pope seriously. Far more serious than I do. Hey, 98 percent of Italians call themselves Catholics. My true love included. Meanwhile, I was joking about the whole process of naming a pope. Even suggesting that I was in the running. That I’d be a true reformer. Being non-Catholic, a layman and a free-thinker. Not all Catholics would see that as funny. But I do. I imagined myself as Pope Jimmy Boy. Maybe that was disrespectful. But still, it’s downright funny. –Jim Broede