The Catholic Church tries to stay relevant by pretending Homer Simpson is Catholic

“He is an idle, pea-brained glutton with a permanent craving for doughnuts and Duff beer, but Homer Simpson has been declared a true Catholic by the Vatican’s official newspaper.”

Ha! (to be heard in Edna Krabappel’s voice) accompanied with a hearty Haw Haw! (à la Nelson Muntz)

But in an article headlined “Homer and Bart are Catholics”, the newspaper said: “The Simpsons are among the few TV programmes for children in which Christian faith, religion, and questions about God are recurrent themes.”

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The family “recites prayers before meals and, in their own peculiar way, believes in the life thereafter”.
It quoted an analysis by a Jesuit priest, Father Francesco Occhetta, of a 2005 episode of The Simpsons, The Father, the Son and the Holy Guest Star, which revolved around Catholicism and was aired a few weeks after the death of Pope John Paul II.

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The episode starts with Bart being expelled from Springfield Elementary School and being enrolled in a Catholic school where he meets a sympathetic priest, voiced by the actor Liam Neeson, who draws him into Catholicism with his kindness. [Read more]

So one episode of Catholicism stands out but countless episodes surrounding Protestantism down to outright religion-bashing just fade away?

I quickly grabbed some samples of Homer and Bart Simpson’s views on religion:

“I’m normally not a praying man, but if you’re up there, please save me Superman.” Homer Simpson

“But Marge, what if we chose the wrong religion? Each week we just make God madder and madder.” Homer Simpson

“I’ve always wondered if there was a god. And now I know there is — and it’s me.” Homer Simpson

“Now Maggie, I’ll be watching you too, in case God is busy creating tornadoes or not existing.” Homer Simpson

“You know, the one with all the well-meaning rules that don’t work in real life — uh, Christianity.” Homer Simpson, referring to which religion the family ‘belongs’ to

“Come on Milhouse, there’s no such thing as a soul! It’s just something they made up to scare kids, like the Boogie Man or Michael Jackson.” Bart Simpson

And a tiny portion of conversation:

Bart: Wow! God is so in your face.

Homer: Yea, he’s my favorite fictional character.

The people over at the Vatican official paper may want to rethink this assertion.