Earlier this month, L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s official newspaper, published an article that led many to believe that the Holy See had welcomed Springfield’s favorite family into its flock.

“The Simpsons are among the few TV programs for children in which Christian faith, religion, and questions about God are recurrent themes,” read the article, which cited an article written by Fr. Francesco Occhetta in Civilita Cattolica, a Jesuit magazine.

Georgetown’s own Fr. Christopher Steck embiggened the story on Twitter, writing, “Very flawed, and officially Catholic. Love it.”

Occhetta analyzed a 2005 episode titled, “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star,” which aired shortly after Pope John Paul II‘s death. In the episode, Bart and Homer consider converting to Catholicism after meeting a priest voiced by Liam Neeson.

According to Occhetta, however, the L’Osservatore Romano’s article was more ill-conceived than a pigeon-rat.

“I wouldn’t say they’re Catholic, I would say they’re people of faith,” Occhetta told AFP. “I would say that the Simpsons are open on the question of God.”

Nonetheless, let’s not forget the Homer’s wise words about Catholic schools: “There, you don’t just get bad grades—you go to hell!”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 26th, 2010 at 3:30 pm and is filed under News, Vox Populi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.