
In a gift to weird headline writers everywhere, Pope Francis said a little blessing over Amore, a green parrot belonging to a rather well-known porn actor in Italy named Francesco Lombardi, who was visiting with his wife and daughters. Lombardi told reporters that the Pope had simply seen the parrot while making rounds in St. Peter’s Square and was so charmed by it that he gave it the papal blessing. Lombardi said that the bird clearly recognized the gravity of the moment and called Pope Francis “Papa”—which is how Italian’s greet the pope. “It was fun,” said Lombardi. “A sort of mixing of the holy and the profane” …