At the Hamptons International Film Festival over the weekend, Susan Sarandon was interviewed by actor Bob Balaban (trust us, you know him), hitting on topics ranging from Occupy Wall Street to the NYPD. But in an off-handed comment about giving a copy of the book, Dead Man Walking to the Pope, Sarandon quickly clarified that [...]

What do you get the man who has everything? Tough question, right? Ok, try this one; What do you get the man who has everything and also totally talks to God all the time and can be all, “Hey God, Matt Lauer is a terrible gift-giver. I think you know what to do.” Pretty pressuring, huh? However, that’s what Lauer had to figure out when he met Pope Benedict XVI while exploring the Vatican with Al Roker for the Today Show. So what’d he give him? A crystal cat.

Huh, good to know the Pope has the same tastes as my aunt who never married.

The Vatican has announced that French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy was not allowed to join her husband, French Prime Minister Nicholas Sarkozy, on his trip to visit Pope Benedict XVI. Shortly before Mr. Sarkozy’s departure to see the Roman Catholic leader, the French ambassador received a note from the Vatican that icily read, “Carla Sarkozy is not welcome in the Vatican.”

Prominent gay (and Catholic) blogger Andrew Sullivan seems to think the Pope might be gay. Why does he think the notoriously homophobic Benedict XVI plays for his team? He writes: “At times, it seems to me, his gayness is almost wince-inducing. The prissy fastidiousness, the effeminate voice, the fixation on liturgy and ritual, and the over-the-top clothing accessories…” There’s more.

Last week, I marveled at the stunning pattern of collective denial that allows the Catholic church to continue to exist in its present form, despite a record of willfully harming children that now traces all the way to Pope Benedict XVI.

Today, I came across the latest example of this, as Newsweek has published an infuriating piece of propaganda (a web exclusive, probably because the paper caught fire every time they tried to commit it to print), designed to mitigate the Catholic church’s vile betrayals by distorting facts and by using the victims’ silence and defenselessness against them.

On ABC’s This Week this morning, former Bush strategist and This Week fill-in host Matthew Dowd made an analogy so comically bad, it rivals the Vatican’s “Priests-as-persecuted-Jews” narrative (for which they’ve just apologized). Dowd’s response was to say that, from a PR standpoint, the Vatican has handled this worse than Toyota handled the Prius recall.

Happy Easter Sunday! Pope Benedict’s personal preacher apologized to Jews this morning for comparing the barrage of attacks against both the Church and the pope over a number of huge sexual abuse scandals — instigated by the recent, damning reports from the New York Times — to ‘collective violence’ against Jews throughout history. Yes, he actually said that. There’s more.

While we did imply that the New York Times was perhaps a little stodgy and definitely humorless only a few hours ago, we’re pretty sure calling arguably the most respected newspaper in the world satanic is going a bit too far. However, that is just what Italian exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth implied this week when discussing the recent battle between the media (led by the Times) and the Vatican over sexual abuse charges. The Catholic News Agency is reporting that Father Amorth has claimed members of the media were “prompted by the devil” in their attacks on the church.

The reaction from Catholics to the newest scandal within its ranks has certainly covered many perspectives. This Good Friday morning, the conversation has moved to the Wall Street Journal where Peggy Noonan offered her opinion of the scandal that, “was dug up and made famous by the press” and the fallout of accusations by both sides of unfair treatment.

Sinead O’Connor, who was almost as famous in the early nineties for tearing up a picture of the Pope (John Paul II) on SNL as she was for her music (in fact, the move almost derailed ‘Sinbad’s career) has returned to weigh in on the enormous sex scandal that is rocking the Catholic Church.

The sex abuse controversy rocking the Catholic Church has reached such a pitch that the Vatican is hitting back directly at the New York Times. Cardinal William J. Levada has posted a long statement on the Vatican’s website. Alas, Levada appears to have lost faith….in America’s newspaper of record.

Professional angry-Catholic Bill Donohue at the Catholic League is convinced that the New York Times is harassing the Pope and Catholics and he took out an ad in the paper to underscore the point. But it is likely conservative columnist Ross Douthat the folks churning out the reporting on the new scandals that allegedly implicate Pope Benedict XVI are probably more concerned about.

At the end of every year, Gallup asks Americans which men and women they most admire. Today, they released their results, a number of which are surprising: for instance, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton narrowly beat Sarah Palin as the Most Admired Woman. President Barack Obama easily won the Most Admired Man title, with 30% of mentions. But there’s a new and noteworthy addition to the list: Glenn Beck, who came in fourth place.

Be you the President or the Pope, wayward insects are apparently the quickest way to land yourself in the headlines! Over the weekend Pope Benedict XVI gave a speech in the Czech Republic. The only part of this, by all accounts, successful visit that made news was that a spider climbed on the Pope’s robes during his speech.