Both men dressed in papacy white for the occasion(someone say, “awkward!”), but that didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was the love between two very well-dressed and invariably sweet-smelling men who were meeting for the first time in public since their arranged marriage of mind, body, and Holy spirit.
In what was an historic meeting on the Holy Helipad at the papal summer retreat, the two Popes ran to each other across the tarmac and embraced in a deeply spiritual moment of blessed man love. They looked into each other’s eyes and prayed for it to never end. Then they dined and talked privately over brunch, and some could only speculate what the conversation revolved around, or what sort of meal they shared. Perhaps Pope Francis passed the wine to Pope Benedict and their fingers touched gently, and maybe for that moment they both felt free, and forgiven, as two star-crossed lovers of Jesus in the night consummating their historic bond in an unprecedented Holy matrimony. The details don’t really matter, though. Nah.
What matters is the natural love between two men and their God-given right to celebrate it. Openly. Without shame, or institutional condemnation, or barriers to one another.
It was a coming out, and coming together moment for the Catholic church which has been conspicuously reluctant to acknowledge what everyone already knows: What is love for Jesus but a deep down love of another man?
After a brief honeymoon involving lots and lots of prayer and the presentation of an antique icon of the Madonna(experts suggest originating somewhere between Like A Virgin and Like A Prayer dynasty, but no one can say for sure)Pope Francis was whisked away in the Holy Helicopter. Pope Benedict XVI prays in solitude for his life partner. This could be the first, and last time they ever see each other. Pope Francis belongs to the world, now.