Giddy-up, Padre!

Yesiree bub, it’s really hard to slip anything past Pope Benedict. On his visit to Mexico Friday, he urged Catholics there to resist the temptations of drug traffickers--but that didn’t stop him from having meet & greets with cartel leaders, who have a fiduciary relationship to the church. The cartels even called off trafficking for the day Benedict is in Mexico. Now he’s on his way to Cuba, chiding them along the way that their Marxist ideology no longer corresponds to reality. He much prefers the capitalist way which works so well & lards the parishes in Mexico with drug money. He also chided the Cuban government for repressing political dissent. And that distinguishes itself from the Catholic church how!? Here our man rides in that ridiculous contraption called the Popemobile--an armored vehicle to protect him from the plebeian masses who might not like capitalism as much as he does. (Photo by Michael Robinson Chavez/LATimes)