VATICAN SAYS SIMPSONS CATHOLIC

    

      The Vatican newspaper has declared that Homer Simpson is a part of the pope's flock. L'Osservatore Romano wrote in its weekend edition under the headline : "Homer and Bart are Catholic."  Last December, the newspaper also praised the show on its 20th anniversary for its philosophical learnings and irrevent take on religion.

      The paper quoted an analysis by a Jesuit priest Rev Fransesco Occhetta, discussing Homer's and his son Bart's conversion in 2005 episode after meeting with a sympathetic priest Father Sean, voiced by actor Liam Neeson. "The family recites prayers together before meals and, in its own way belives in heaven."

      "My first reaction is shock and awe, and I guess it makes up for me no going to church for 20 years", producer Al Jean saying. Jean noted that the Simpson family attends the First Church of Springfield which is decidedly Presbylutheran.

      Skeptical realism seems to prevail in the Simpson stories," it wrote. "Young generations of Television watchers are educated to not let themselves be fooled. The moral? None. But one knows that a world without easy illusions is a more human world and, perhaps, more Christian."