This has not been confirmed yet, but the word from well placed sources is that Pope Benedict XVI is planning to seek asylum in the United States.
The word -- or verbum, if you will -- came just as the Pontiff was planning to say Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, a landmark church recalling the German Catholic tradition that is Benedict's pride and comfort.
The Pope was said to have been at the point of tears many times over the past few days as station after station and newspaper after newspaper filled their (apparently gaping) news holes with wonderful, positive stories about the Church and about the Pope himself.
Our sources say Benedict wants to remain in the States, preferably in New York, or Boston or (last choice) Miami, all of which have substantial Catholic populations, though the last city mostly has the newcomer variety, from Latin America.
Benedict may make his request for asylum today or, perhaps, just before his scheduled departure following the planned massive Mass at Yankee Stadium on Sunday.
It's said that the request for asylum will be based on fears of a planned coup by Latin American and African prelates, reportedly still angry that one of them was not chosen as successor to John Paul II three years ago. They are said to have banded together in an ad hoc coalition.
"Hey, we are the only ones with growing parishes. It's our time," one of those prelates was overheard to say two days ago, as reported by Verbum Est, a kind of Vatican Drudge Report.
Meanwhile, there were reports filtering out of Brooklyn, that Flatbush and Bococa (a newly named neighborhood near Downtown that is also known as Re-Tar-Ded) were under siege by roving street gangs, emboldened by the absence of police, almost all of whom have been diverted from regular patrols to Pope duty.
News 12 Brooklyn, the 24-hour cable channel dedicated to covering that borough, issued a statement saying it would check out the reports immediately after the Pontiff's departure on Sunday.
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