# AP Headline: "Pope Makes Surprise Appearance at Window" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 16, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863 "2005-03-16T19:12:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/1 "2005-03-16T19:12:55Z")
_EEEEK!_ I was in the shower!! ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/2 "2005-03-16T19:14:09Z")
Shoulda used that curtain, Eve. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/3 "2005-03-16T19:26:48Z")
Why am I getting a vision of an _Animal House_ remake, with the pontiff as Bluto? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Unkempt\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b782af/32.png) [@The\_Unkempt\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Unkempt_One)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/4 "2005-03-16T19:40:38Z")
Oh please, like any of you wouldn’t want the pope checking you out while you are showering, running his popey eyes all up and down your wet, dripping body. What would be a bigger thrill? Come on, he is THE POPE! ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/5 "2005-03-16T19:41:11Z")
Sorry that was me. I’m expecting to elected Pope soon and I was trying out my uniform. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/6 "2005-03-16T19:41:26Z")
I was thinking more the scene in _Life of Brian_🆒 ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/7 "2005-03-16T19:42:55Z")
**Eve** , I had to do a double take when I saw your name on this thread. Welcome back! Your humor has been missed here. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/8 "2005-03-16T19:46:28Z")
_Phew_—turns out it was just a cardinal. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/9 "2005-03-16T19:49:19Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > _Phew_—turns out it was just a cardinal. Well that’s not so bad, they’re a sign that spring’s coming! Don’t you feel better now? ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/10 "2005-03-16T19:53:03Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > _Phew_—turns out it was just a cardinal. Well, stay away from him. You know what they say about cardinal sin. Hmmm … then again … ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/11 "2005-03-16T19:55:10Z")
There’s a cardinal at my window right now! He’s eating something nasty he dug out of my backyard. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/12 "2005-03-16T20:04:34Z")
But a cardinal isn’t nearly as impressive as a Pope, **Eve**! Shoulda stuck with the original story 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/13 "2005-03-16T20:16:06Z")
> [@](#): > > The pope’s appearance at his open window above St. Peter’s Square on a springlike day came as a surprise. . . . Especially when he was dangled out over the balcony by Michael Jackson . . . ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/14 "2005-03-16T20:21:28Z")
**Eve** ’s back! **Eve** ’s back! ::throws confetti in the air, passes around the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream pints:: ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/15 "2005-03-16T20:22:00Z")
Kinda off topic … Hey, **Eve** , didn’t I hear somewhere that you own a haunted vase? ---
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/16 "2005-03-16T20:56:33Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > There’s a cardinal at my window right now! He’s eating something nasty he dug out of my backyard. Hmmm…could be Richelieu. Ask him if he persecuted the Huguenots. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/17 "2005-03-16T21:02:18Z")
Richelieu is dead, silly! Or is that just what they _want_ us to believe? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/18 "2005-03-16T21:04:20Z")
This time, I remembered I was lying in the oak closet, and I heard distinctly the gusty wind, and the driving of the snow; I heard, also, the fir bough repeat its teasing sound, and ascribed it to the right cause: but it annoyed me so much, that I resolved to silence it, if possible; and, I thought, I rose and endeavoured to unhasp the casement. The hook was soldered into the staple: a circumstance observed by me when awake, but forgotten. ‘I must stop it, nevertheless!’ I muttered, knocking my knuckles through the glass, and stretching an arm out to seize the importunate branch; instead of which, my fingers closed on the fingers of a little, ice-cold hand! The intense horror of nightmare came over me: I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed, ‘Let me in - let me in!’ ‘Who are you?’ I asked, struggling, meanwhile, to disengage myself. ‘John Paul,’ it replied, shiveringly (why did I think of John Paul? I had read POPE twenty times for John Paul) - ‘I’m come home: I’d lost my way on the moor!’ As it spoke, I discerned, obscurely, a fat face looking through the window. Terror made me cruel; and, finding it useless to attempt shaking the creature off, I pulled its wrist on to the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes: still it wailed, ‘Let me in!’ and maintained its tenacious gripe, almost maddening me with fear. ‘How can I!’ I said at length. ‘Let ME go, if you want me to let you in!’ The fingers relaxed, I snatched mine through the hole, hurriedly piled the books up in a pyramid against it, and stopped my ears to exclude the lamentable prayer. I seemed to keep them closed above a quarter of an hour; yet, the instant I listened again, there was the doleful cry moaning on! ‘Begone!’ I shouted. ‘I’ll never let you in, not if you beg for twenty years.’ ‘It is twenty years,’ mourned the voice: ‘twenty years. I’ve been a waif for twenty years!’ Thereat began a feeble scratching outside, and the pile of books moved as if thrust forward. I tried to jump up; but could not stir a limb; and so yelled aloud, in a frenzy of fright. To my confusion, I discovered the yell was not ideal: hasty footsteps approached my chamber door; somebody pushed it open, with a vigorous hand, and a light glimmered through the squares at the top of the bed. I sat shuddering yet, and wiping the perspiration from my forehead: the intruder appeared to hesitate, and muttered to himself. At last, he said, in a half-whisper, plainly not expecting an answer, ‘Is any one here?’ I considered it best to confess my presence; for I knew Heathcliff’s accents, and feared he might search further, if I kept quiet. With this intention, I turned and opened the panels. I shall not soon forget the effect my action produced. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/19 "2005-03-16T21:09:28Z")
> [@neofishboy](#): > > Hmmm…could be Richelieu. Ask him if he persecuted the Huguenots. Just pray that it isn’t Fang or Biggles, or things could wind up being very…comfy. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863/20 "2005-03-16T21:17:46Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > Richelieu is dead, silly! That’s when Cardinal Richelieu impersonators come in handy! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-headline-pope-makes-surprise-appearance-at-window/294863.md?page=2)