Not too long ago, we reported on the Pope’s public disapproval of online social networking. Pope Benedict XVI — you remember, used to be in the Hitler Youth? Man, I just can’t get enough of that one — made a few hilarious comments about the sinful nature of teh Intarwebz (“If the desire for virtual connectedness becomes obsessive, it may in fact function to isolate individuals from…healthy human development.” Thanks, bro. Can I call you bro? I don’t know where I’d be without your OFFICIAL DECLARATION). You may have also heard about the excommunication of several Catholic Bishops, including Dick Williamson (can I call you Dick?), who were apparently tight with Mel Gibson’s Daddy and liked to shoot the shit over a few beers while denying that the fucking Holocaust happened (there was also some nonsense about an unauthorized ordination that actually set the whole thing off, but that’s beside the point). Anyway, Benedict finally removed the stain left by that Papal smear and lifted the excommunication.

Nice guy, right? Except that some people were (understandably) pretty pissed about the whole thing. And by some people, I mean Jews. Now, I’m well aware that most young adult males in Germany around the time of World War II were forced to enlist, but that admission totally ruins the irony and ensuing hilarity and generally fucked-up-ed-ness of a former member of the Hitler Youth and leader of the Catholic Church pardoning a gang of Holocaust deniers. Ahem.

Of course, none of this crossed the mind of our dear old Pope (who is, in fact, the oldest Pope to ever be Pope’d) until after the fact. Oh…whoops? Now, less than 2 months later, Benedict has admitted his mistake (which makes me wonder — when the Pope goes to Reconciliation, who does he confess his sins to?). But he didn’t stop there! As he realized the error of his ways, Benedict learned the hard way about the power of The Intarwub:

• “I have been told that consulting the information available on the Internet would have made it possible to perceive the problem early on.” (how eloquent and politically neutral! Good boy!)

Benedict goes on to say that the Holy See (which is apparently the name given to the Pope’s domain and which sounds so terribly, terribly grammatical ignorant even though it isn’t) “…will have to pay greater attention to that source of news.”

To this, of course, the collective consciousness of World Wide Net-o-web responded:

p0p3 = pwn3d

(also, 0111010001001010010010110101111001)