Francis by Patrick J. Marrin for January 05, 2015

I look at the pictures!

I do, and I enjoy it.

Yes, it’s terrific – I didn’t think it would survive due to its Christian religious content, but the Pope’s personality image is a perfect vehicle for puncturing staid concepts of what Christians should be like.

Simple pleasures during ruff times

Yes. I do, and I love the warm fuzzy feeling.

I do.I enjoy it, too.

Not even Catholic and I enjoy it greatly.

Yes, I read it and like it. Not religious but spiritual.

Me, too!

Yep!

I read this strip often and enjoy it. However, this one has me scratching my head. I get the part about the cat not liking to be around the dog…but I don’t understand why this was a good idea (surmised from the light bulb over Frances’ head) followed the appearance of the adopted dog and subsequent departure of the cat. I think something symbolically significant is going on, but I don’t know the characters or Vatican politics situations well enough to understand what that underlying message might be. Anyone up for explaining what is probably obvious?

@holm swedeholm: i wondered about this one at first too – but I think it’s about how Pope Francis likes to shake things up! esp. something old or established and very comfortable!

I don’t know what Francis has against cats. He always seems to be so tolerant of all God’s creatures.

Good strip, but I don’t understand this one. Who is His Holiness’ visitor?

Could it be Benedict XVI?

I read it and I’m an atheist! I like Francis, he treats every one the same!

I believe the “idea” of the strip is that the first fellow was being annoying by playing with his cat when he should have been discussing business. Then the Pope ‘trumped’ him by bringing in his ‘bigger guns’.BTW I also am not Catholic but I love this strip both for its lovely simplicity and its portrayal of the first Pope in my long lifetime that I find myself honestly both admiring and feeling that he may bring a breath of fresh air to his church.

This is most likely Benedict XVI and the probably point is that Francis is stirring things up by moving the Church out of the comfort zone that it has been mired in for years-at least since John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council did a massive shake-up. Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict, while active in various changes in society as a whole did not really do much to change or shake up the entrenched bureaucracy of the Curia and the mindset of most of the Church leaders. The metaphor is that many of the current Church leaders are reacting like the cat being held by Benedict and are unhappy at being confronted with something other than the comfortable status quo.

I read it also, every day, and I am always glad when I find the new strip waiting for me. And I might add, the comments section here, specifically today and generally most of the time, is one of the most un-yucky I have seen ever anywhere on this site. Thanks everybody for being here and following the lead, attitude- and perspective-wise, of the good Holy Father Francis :-)P.S. If it matters, I was raised Catholic and generally enjoyed it as a child, but as an adult I am increasingly more turned off by Christians in general. Bless Francis for closing the gap :-)

Not a Christian either, but agree w/most of the posts here.

I enjoy this comic very much

A+++ as comic. Enjoy and share often.

Great comment string. Lots of insights the artist wishes he had thought of when he drew the cartoon. Former Pope Benedict was purported to have a cat. Current Pope Francis visits him regularly in the Vatican. In this totally imaginary instance, Benedict is distracted by his cat during the visit. Francis has recently acquired a Beagle through his personal assistant, Brother Leo, so he goes and gets the dog. Cats and dogs being what they are, the cat flees. Are the two popes as different as cats and dogs? Perhaps. Is there something dramatically different going on in the church because of the new pope? Of course. How to depict this? Well, the metaphors tell something of the change. But it takes a great audience to tease it out. Thanks.

The dog went a-bulb and beyond the call of duty. It must be a lap-radore retriever.

Thanks for all the great comments and instruction! I was wondering if the visitor was the cartoonist’s rendition of Benedict XVI, but I was not familiar enough with B’s face to tell for sure—though the vestments should have helped determine that.

Jnet—-I think you’re right! Long may he last!

B16 had a cat? So he was a little better than I thought, after all.

Well, Benedict XVI wanted a cat—but the powers-that-be in the Vatican insisted that the rules forbid cats.

I presume that in retirement, Benedict XVI has a cat.