Popes Pius XIII, Michael I, and Gregory XVII (two)

All of these venerable men are currently sitting on the, er, papal throne, as I write. Read Karl Keating's surreal and humorous account of these four claimants and various other wacko aspects of the so-called Catholic "traditionalist" movement, courtesy of a post on Mark Shea's blog. Karl and his comrade Jimmy Akin are becoming quite the chroniclers of religious folly these days (what with Akin's visit with Jack Chick, noted here a while back). Mark concludes with a characteristic quip:

I like Pope Michael I the best, holding court in his Dad's hardware store. Though the photo of the white smoke coming out of the Montana outhouse to announce Pius XIII's election is mighty funny too.

If we could visit Malcolm Muggeridge in his grave, I bet he would be dying laughing, and purple with envy over the latent satirical possibilities of such silliness . . . Who says Christians (and us stodgy Catholics) can't have any fun, when there is so much goofiness to report, with this stuff and recent events such as a man with a doctorate (Eric Svendsen) stating with a straight face that Catholics elevate Mary to the level of the Holy Trinity? Like Rush Limbaugh (who allows no politically liberal escapade or farce to go unreported) says, "having more fun than a human being ought to be allowed to have."