Rome: The Screaming Pope Comes to Rome

Portrait of Innocent X by Velasquez

A Pope coming to Rome might seem an odd iteration though not that crazy in this world of bespoke donuts. Human life is essentially a Second Coming. Those suffering from Imposter  or Capgras Syndrome believe that familiar faces are occupied by strangers, but occasionally it's true. You don't have to be paranoid to think someone's following you. During The Babylonian Captivity, there were actually two popes, one in Rome, another in Avignon. The current pope, Francis, is a nice guy and progressive when it comes to things like gay marriage, but who knows what God has up his sleeve?A Franciscan friar waiting on line with everyone else to get in? Hang around the Vatican long enough and you might get lucky and run into the real Pope. NB don't miss  Art and Science in the Rome of Urban VIII at the Barberini. Under Urban's papacy 1623-44 the "two cultures" flourished as they never had before.

read the review of The Kafka Studies Department on Booklife

and listen to "Hitchhike" by Marvin Gaye