The White House announced earlier today that Georgetown’s very own President Jack DeGioia will be part of the exclusive presidential delegation to attend the mass for the inauguration of the Pontificate of His Holiness Pope Francis. The Mass begins at 9:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday, on the feast of St. Joseph.

Leading the delegation will be Vice President Joe Biden, whose relationship with Catholic Church hierarchy remains strained after, you know, being pro-choice and all. Some bishops have gone so far as to say that Biden shouldn’t receive Catholic communion. Also, the contraception mandate kind of riled up that whole group of people.

Among the other Catholics in the delegation is former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, herself quite pro-choice as well. When she met with Pope Benedict in 2009, he reportedly took the time to lecture her on her duty as a Catholic to use her political clout to limit the use of abortion. “His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church’s consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators,” the Vatican wrote. For her part, Pelosi shrugged it off and emphasized their discussion about poverty and climate change.

The inclusion of Republican New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez makes the delegation bipartisan. Unlike the rest of the delegates, the pro-life Martinez’s reputation remains untarnished in the Church. Sitting Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner declined the White House’s invitation, citing the need to focus on his work in D.C. and (probably) to avoid another opportunity for public crying.

The mild-mannered DeGioia has been somewhat of a controversial figure among Catholics and conservatives especially. An entire blog is dedicated to cataloging all of Georgetown’s purported aberrations from good Catholic teaching, which isn’t even to mention the famous alum who wants to get Georgetown’s status as a Catholic university revoked. The Cardinal Newman Society has taken out GeorgetownScandal.com at various points in time to organize petitions against University actions, such as its decision to invite the pro-choice graduation speaker Kathleen Sebelius.

While it’s fitting that the president of the first Jesuit university in the United States will attend the inaugural mass of the first Jesuit Pontiff, with such a controversial group of people, there’s bound to be some awkward conversations. It doesn’t help things since the last time Pope came to D.C. in 2008, Benedict snubbed Georgetown for a visit, instead, to Catholic University.

Photo: Hilary Nakasone/Georgetown Voice

At 2:36 a.m. today, the Voice received an email addressed to “the faculty, staff, and students of Georgetown University” from three people claiming to be the thieves of the Healy Clock hands. The senders, who went by the names “Reaper, Goliath, and Juliet” and sent the message through a hushmail email address, told of how they “gained access to the restricted area above Healy Hall” despite “a series of countermeasures and obstacles.” The email also included a screenshot (again, covering their tracks) of the hands, pictured left, as proof of the senders’s validity.

And for those of us concerned with tradition, the thieves assure us that the hands are currently on their way to the Vatican. Hoya Saxa, Pope Benedict.

The full text of the email is below:

To the faculty, staff, and students of Georgetown University:

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!”