Positively Gaudily

Amid fanfare and deferential treatment that have performed the seemingly impossible feat of transforming Manhattan into some thirteenth century eastern French village, it is worth remembering that beyond the gold jewelry and God-awful sixteenth century art lie a man and an institution that continue to hold sway over a not-insubstantial share of a billion people. And I do not mean to detract from the brilliant and agreeable rhetorical turns offered by the pontiff—the Church badly needed some good stateside spin.