In the midst of this past weekend’s fire-storm of reading mis-comprehension — which is being addressed by much more qualified folks than I — I was surprised (and pleased) to stumble upon this little nugget towards the bottom of John Allen’s recent article:
As part of that picture, the legendarily bookish pontiff reveals that when the “family” gets together, they sometimes like to pop in a DVD. A particular favorite, he says, are the “Don Camillo” movies from the 1950s and 60s, based on a line of comics created by Italian writer Giovanni Guareschi. The central characters are a parish priest in post-War Italy, Don Camillo, and the Communist mayor of his town, Giuseppe Bottazzi, better known as “Peppone.” Camillo and Peppone argue intensely and they joust for influence over the people, but underneath it all they share a genuine affection for each other.
As a bit of a classic film aficionado myself, I’m glad to see the Pope partaking from time to time. (And besides, it prevents me from dwelling too much on the question of what exactly the people at L’Osservatore Romano thought they were doing — a question which is not encouraging me to tread much in the way of charity at the moment.)
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