In the Cazzo of Petrine Obscenity?

When Pope Francis was giving his Angelus blessing and homily at St. Peter's Square, he made a slip of the tongue whch sounded obscene to native speaking Italians. 

In English translation, the pontiff said:

If each one of us does not amass riches only for oneself, but half for the service of others, in this f–k [pause], in this case the providence of God will become visible through this gesture of solidarity,

The offending word is "cazzo" which is Italian for the male appendage, but it is commonly used as a synonym for  the "F" word.  His Holiness obviously meant to say "caso" which is example in this instance. Philologically, the mistake is easy for a Spanish speaker to make.

To me, what is really obscene is  that the chattering class is more intent on snickering over something that sounded dirty rather than concentrate on the message of sharing rather than not hording riches.

It seems that the Francis effect can only go so far.

h/t:  NY Post

Post Scriptus 03/04/2014  

After the Cazzo kerfluffle went through the press cycle for a day, Pope Francis used Twitter to share his humble mea culpa.

An Unruly Aviary Angelus

Pope Francis during January 26, 2014 Angelus, St. Peter's Square, Vatican City

Crowds gather in Vatican City on Sundays at Noon to pray the Angelus prayer with the Pope.  Often the Pontiff will make brief remarks in conjunction with praying this ancient Christian devotion to the Incarnation.  

However, those who sojourned to St. Peter’s Square this Sunday saw quite an unusual spectacle.  Pope Francis stood on the balcony of the Apostolic Palace and was flanked by a boy and a girl who released doves into the air.  This international symbol of piece should have served a dual purpose, marking the end of the Octave of Christian Unity as well as underlining the Pope’s call for peace.  Pope Francis focused on the bloody unrest in Ukraine, where he called for “constructive dialogue” to prevail in the Eastern European nation.

Alas, an unruly aviary altercation took the world’s attention.  After the two white doves took flight, a seagull and a large black crow swooped down on the doves immediately after they were released.  While one dove lost some feathers when it broke free from the gull, the other dove was repeatedly pecked by the crow.

Some wags have suggested the faith of the black bird might have been from The Religion of Pieces, but that remains unsubstantiated. 

While it was rather ironic that symbols of peace seemed under attack as they were released to the world, it would be wise not to ruminate on this grotesquerie in order to consider the call for peace in Ukraine.