Speaker 1: Guess what will what's that man go? So I was
Speaker 1: telling my kids about how my family used to go
Speaker 1: on really long car trips when I was young, Like
Speaker 1: my mom and dad loved piling us up in the
Speaker 1: car and just driving to really cool places. And occasionally
Speaker 1: there was an excuse for it, right, like once they
Speaker 1: drove us from New Jersey all the way to Quebec City,
Speaker 1: just so my dog could drink some holy water, just
Speaker 1: so your dog could drink. Yeah, as I'm saying this
Speaker 1: out loud, I realized it makes less and less sense.
Speaker 1: But our dog was ill at the time, and we'd
Speaker 1: adopted him as a pop from this Catholic family, and
Speaker 1: even though we aren't Catholic, my mom decides she wanted
Speaker 1: to honor his religious traditions. So we drove all the
Speaker 1: way up to Santa and de Properate, which is this
Speaker 1: stunning basilica in Quebec City where a lot of healing
Speaker 1: miracles tend to happen, and we let him laugh up
Speaker 1: some holy water there. Your mom is the best. What
Speaker 1: a great idea, But I do have to ask did
Speaker 1: it work? Did your dog live? Yeah? Well, we all
Speaker 1: fell in love with Quebec, so that part worked and uh,
Speaker 1: and he did live for a few more years. So
Speaker 1: I'm not sure whether that was St Anne's doing or
Speaker 1: whether his medication was doing the heavy lifting, but you know,
Speaker 1: it did make me curious about the miracles that have
Speaker 1: taken place there, And when I started reading online, it
Speaker 1: sent me down this massive Catholic rabbit hole of like
Speaker 1: saints and pilgrimages. And after a few hours, I can't
Speaker 1: tell you how many tabs I had opened about like
Speaker 1: the Vatican's official cricket team and how they have received
Speaker 1: letters from like both Jefferson Davis and Abe Lincoln. Like
Speaker 1: I realized we had to do an episode on like
Speaker 1: the Vatican and all the secrets hiding there. So that's
Speaker 1: what today's episode is all about. Why don't we dig in?
Speaker 1: Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as
Speaker 1: always I'm joined by my good friend Man Gueshot Ticketer,
Speaker 1: and today we're talking about the secrets of the Vatican.
Speaker 1: And this is a topic that Mango and one of
Speaker 1: our brilliant researchers, Nolan Brown, have been talking about for
Speaker 1: a few weeks. And so after all that research, Mango,
Speaker 1: I've got several questions for you But why don't we
Speaker 1: start out with this one? Have you ever actually been
Speaker 1: to the Vatican. That's a pretty easy one. I have
Speaker 1: actually way back when I was in seventh grade, and
Speaker 1: I was completely fascinated on my tour there. But you
Speaker 1: know what's funny was that when I was researching today's episode,
Speaker 1: I decided to look up trip Advisor just to see
Speaker 1: what other people thought and what their experiences were. And
Speaker 1: one of the things I loved reading was all these
Speaker 1: one star reviews of the place. So I just have
Speaker 1: to read a few tears for it. This one's titled
Speaker 1: Vending Machines. The vending machine worked very well. It's worrying
Speaker 1: when this is the first thing you started review with.
Speaker 1: The Vatican is by far the most boring place I
Speaker 1: have visible. One star. And here's another, highly recommend you
Speaker 1: realize what you're getting into before booking a tour. It's
Speaker 1: a lot of broken English from guides and a lot
Speaker 1: of paintings in art one star. What these people expect?
Speaker 1: And how did this become a hobby of ours where
Speaker 1: we like going to different places and just eating the
Speaker 1: one star reviews on church Advisor. I remember we were
Speaker 1: looking at once for I think it was Yellowstone, and
Speaker 1: one of them about Yellowstone was just a bigger central
Speaker 1: park but with bears. But we're obviously coming from a
Speaker 1: very controversial angle that there's plenty to see at the Vatican.
Speaker 1: But I do want to clarify for our listeners up front.
Speaker 1: I know there's a lot of history on vatty leagues
Speaker 1: and sex scandals and whatnot, and of course there's plenty
Speaker 1: of discussion around all of those things, but today's show
Speaker 1: is really just about the surprising things we didn't realize
Speaker 1: about Vatican City and the Vatican both and how it functions,
Speaker 1: but also what's hiding behind those walls. Yeah, we're not
Speaker 1: trying to knock religion or delve into controversy. We just
Speaker 1: want to dig into the fascinating history. All right, Well
Speaker 1: let's start with that. Then why why do you think
Speaker 1: it's such a fascinating place for us? Well, for me,
Speaker 1: part of it's that the Church has played this outsized
Speaker 1: role in history. I mean you think about the Crusades
Speaker 1: and the early explorers and people like Mendel and Copernicus.
Speaker 1: I mean, the Catholic Church is just this constant, recurring
Speaker 1: character in our history books. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: there's so much that's cloaked in mystery, and as an outsider,
Speaker 1: is just completely unnoble when it comes to the rituals
Speaker 1: of the Church. What you mean by that, well, I
Speaker 1: feel like you read these tiny tidbits and they seem
Speaker 1: totally impossible but also maybe true. Like I read this
Speaker 1: widely circulated story that when the Pope passes away, the
Speaker 1: physician will tap him on the forehead three times with
Speaker 1: a special silver hammer just to make sure he's actually dead.
Speaker 1: That does sound maybe made up, right, And that's what
Speaker 1: I thought too. It's like too good to be true.
Speaker 1: But also I'm not a priest, I don't know, so
Speaker 1: I looked it up on snopes and they can't tell
Speaker 1: whether it's true either. I mean, there actually is a
Speaker 1: tiny silver death hammer, and it sits in waiting at
Speaker 1: the Vatican, and once the Pope passes away, it actually
Speaker 1: does have the special use like first to chamberlain will
Speaker 1: call out the deceased pope's name three times, which sounds
Speaker 1: a little like the forehead thing, right, And if the
Speaker 1: Pope doesn't respond, the hammers used to break the seal
Speaker 1: on the Pope's ring, and only then is the room
Speaker 1: cordoned off, and that's when they actually start ranging for
Speaker 1: the funeral. With all that detail, I mean, I guess
Speaker 1: it sounds like there's some truth there. Yeah, according to Snokes,
Speaker 1: there probably was a time when the hammer was used
Speaker 1: to you know, double check that the pope was dead,
Speaker 1: back when people were accidentally buried alive. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's a long time since then. Still, I think you
Speaker 1: can see what I mean, right, Like, there's so much
Speaker 1: old ceremony and tradition that isn't really public knowledge. That
Speaker 1: makes it easy for someone like, you know, a writer
Speaker 1: like Dan Brown right at the edge of these myths
Speaker 1: and make all these things feel plausible. Well, and there's
Speaker 1: so many things like that. I remember before we even
Speaker 1: talking about this episode, reading some story about those pope
Speaker 1: chairs with the holes in them. Did you read? Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Holy chairs? All right, So for our listeners that
Speaker 1: don't know about these, these are these strange chairs. Was
Speaker 1: holes at the center of the seat, and there's this,
Speaker 1: I guess, kind of a dubious origin story that accompanies them.
Speaker 1: So the legend goes back to whether or not there
Speaker 1: was a female pope at one point, and supposedly there
Speaker 1: was this very astute pope named John who turned out
Speaker 1: to be a Jane, And the story goes that, you know,
Speaker 1: she was pregnant and giving birth during a parade, and
Speaker 1: then of course because of this, she was stoned to
Speaker 1: death when everybody realized she was a woman. And after
Speaker 1: that happened, the church made future popes sit in a
Speaker 1: chair with a hole in it, so, you know, so
Speaker 1: that a physician could reach through the bottom and verify
Speaker 1: the pope's manhood. How weird is this so outrageous? Like
Speaker 1: why would you need a chair for that? Wait? Wait,
Speaker 1: how else would you do a physical? But you see
Speaker 1: this story everywhere. I saw one on Scientific American about
Speaker 1: Pope Benedict the third and they were doing a check
Speaker 1: on him and apparently they all said, thanks be to
Speaker 1: God after that check, you know, the verify that he
Speaker 1: had testicles. And you know, there's some speculation from historians
Speaker 1: that maybe the chair was used to ensure a pope
Speaker 1: hadn't been castrated. But it's it's honestly all very murky. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's it's all kind of like that silver hammer, right,
Speaker 1: like these chairs actually do exist. Yeah, Well that you know,
Speaker 1: there's plenty of tradition and history that we don't know,
Speaker 1: but why don't we start with some of the things
Speaker 1: that we do. You know, after all your research, I
Speaker 1: think maybe you should give us a little bit of
Speaker 1: background on the Vatican. Yeah, yeah, I can definitely do that. Actually,
Speaker 1: let me just pull up my notes so on. Viously,
Speaker 1: the Vatican City is like the spiritual and governing center
Speaker 1: of the Roman Catholic Church. And originally the land was
Speaker 1: actually this Marshy area and then apparently it turned into
Speaker 1: the CD District. But by Coligula's time in thirty s
Speaker 1: D it had totally been gentrified, like there are nice
Speaker 1: houses and gardens and whatnot. And today, like the area
Speaker 1: is pretty much built around St. Peter's tomb because that's
Speaker 1: the area where he was martyred. Vatican spans, if you
Speaker 1: think about it, like about a hundred acres or so,
Speaker 1: and it's considered a monarchy with about a thousand people
Speaker 1: living there, and the pope is at the top of
Speaker 1: that obviously, but something I would not have thought about before.
Speaker 1: But there's no vice pope, right, yeah, he's he's kind
Speaker 1: of alone at the top. I mean, he delegates duties
Speaker 1: to various people and councils, but all that stuff you
Speaker 1: think about with the three branches of government like legislative, judicial, executive,
Speaker 1: like all of that sits with him. Plus he's got
Speaker 1: all the spiritual things to deal with. It's a ton
Speaker 1: of responsibility. And the funny thing is there's no turning
Speaker 1: the job down when you're nominated, Like you can't say
Speaker 1: no to God. Well that's true, but I have read
Speaker 1: seven real times about all these cardinals that don't want
Speaker 1: the job that get really stressed out thinking about it
Speaker 1: just because of all of the international responsibility that that
Speaker 1: goes with the job. Yeah, I mean, like you've got
Speaker 1: to deal with the church's legal stuff and the public relations.
Speaker 1: All that falls on your shoulders and it can feel overwhelming.
Speaker 1: But you know what's funny is the room the new
Speaker 1: pope is scored to after he's just been elected. It
Speaker 1: actually has a nickname. It's called the Room of Tears. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a big job, and most popes need some time
Speaker 1: to compose themselves and like deal with the motion after
Speaker 1: they've been nominated. And here's something else about that room.
Speaker 1: Because no one knows who the next pope is going
Speaker 1: to be, the tailors actually have three papal ropes waiting.
Speaker 1: There's a small, medium and large. I never really thought
Speaker 1: about it, but I guess I just kind of assumed
Speaker 1: it was a one fits all kind of thing. But
Speaker 1: you know, you're right, no one knows who's going to
Speaker 1: be elected. There's actually this great story about Pope Fabian,
Speaker 1: who wasn't even a candidate for the pope, but a
Speaker 1: dove landed on his shoulder during the election, and so
Speaker 1: he got this unanimous vote to be pope. And you know,
Speaker 1: I'll have some questions for you out elections and in
Speaker 1: just a bit. Yeah, good, because I really want to
Speaker 1: talk about like how they send up black smoke and
Speaker 1: white smoke, and like when they make a decision. It's
Speaker 1: kind of amazing. Yeah, all right, Well, well, let's back
Speaker 1: up for just a second and talk about how Vatican
Speaker 1: City became its own sovereign state. Obviously we know when
Speaker 1: an impact the Roman Catholic Church had on history, but
Speaker 1: give me a quick sense of why there are these
Speaker 1: hundred acres carved out for it. Yeah, so those hundred
Speaker 1: acres are a little fuzzy. I mean, there's a McDonald's
Speaker 1: just outside the Vatican border that's actually on Vatican property,
Speaker 1: and it's kind of blurry, actually, here. You can order
Speaker 1: a new Tela burger and fries in this room. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's kind of an Italy specific thing. And they also
Speaker 1: don't allow mixed spaghetti there. That's only a Filipino thing. Okay,
Speaker 1: But you know you're right about the Vatican size. I mean,
Speaker 1: for a while, and we're talking way back in the
Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds, the Pope ruled over a number of papal
Speaker 1: states in the region. But when Italy unified as a
Speaker 1: country in the late eighteen hundreds, it seized up all
Speaker 1: the Vatican's land. And then this really really strange thing happened, right,
Speaker 1: and it was completely new to me. Apparently Italy and
Speaker 1: the Vatican actually had a cold war. Like I always assumed,
Speaker 1: Italy and the Vatican had this super cozy relationship. But
Speaker 1: for about sixty years, the Pope refused to acknowledge Italy
Speaker 1: as a country or even going to the balcony to
Speaker 1: bless people, especially if he thought like Italians were in
Speaker 1: the square. And even more than that, the Pope refused
Speaker 1: to leave the Vatican. Like Pope Pius the Ninth, preferred
Speaker 1: to himself as a prisoner of the grounds. But here's
Speaker 1: the craziest part of the story. The person who actually
Speaker 1: brokered the peace is Benito Mussolini. Yeah, he delivered a
Speaker 1: pack that recognized the Vatican as sovereign and in the deal,
Speaker 1: Italy brought back all the land it had taken for
Speaker 1: about ninety million dollars or about a billion dollars in
Speaker 1: today's money. Well, and obviously Italy and and the Vatican
Speaker 1: have a great relationship. Now. I think there's an arrangement
Speaker 1: where something like eight percent of Italian income taxes can
Speaker 1: be diverted to the Catholic Church if a citizen chooses them,
Speaker 1: and any criminals who were sentenced by the Vatican court,
Speaker 1: they get moved to an Italian prison. And if a
Speaker 1: person loses their Vatican citizenship, which ends when your job
Speaker 1: ends there, and if they don't have a country to
Speaker 1: go to, they become an Italian citizen by default, which
Speaker 1: has to be the weirdest way to get a citizenship. Well.
Speaker 1: You know what's interesting though, that while that one billion
Speaker 1: dollar amount we were talking about sounds huge, and you
Speaker 1: think about all the artwork and all the other things
Speaker 1: that are in the Vatican, all the treasure the Vatican
Speaker 1: isn't exactly swimming and wealth. The annual operating budget is
Speaker 1: about three hundred million dollars that comes in from ties,
Speaker 1: but also museum tickets and printing services and all the
Speaker 1: souvenirs and those kinds of things. But think about a
Speaker 1: place like Harvard. The university's annual budget is something like
Speaker 1: ten times that, at about three point seven billion. It
Speaker 1: kind of makes the Vaticans proceeds, you know, feel almost
Speaker 1: shoe string. Yeah, And while the Vatican could easily put
Speaker 1: some of that fancy artwork up on Craigslist to get
Speaker 1: some like quick cash, the Vatican has zero intention of
Speaker 1: selling anything. As Cardinal Caprio, the budget office once said,
Speaker 1: all the artwork belongs to humanity, and the Vatican books
Speaker 1: reflect that. In their accounts. All these billions of dollars
Speaker 1: of artwork were assigned a value of one lira, which
Speaker 1: kind of reminds me of the Academy Awards and how
Speaker 1: actors actually have to sign a contract when they win
Speaker 1: an oscar, Like if they or their heirs want to
Speaker 1: sell the trophy, the most they can sell it for
Speaker 1: as a dollar, and they have to offer it to
Speaker 1: the Academy first, all right, But in numbers, a dollar
Speaker 1: was like two thousand lira which means if you wanted
Speaker 1: a fair trade, that'd be like trading a finger of
Speaker 1: an oscar for the Sistine Chapels, the Pietas, all the
Speaker 1: pope tiaras, plus all the other treasures of the Vatican.
Speaker 1: It sounds like a good deal. So I've forgotten about
Speaker 1: the Pope's tiras, by the way, So why don't we
Speaker 1: talk about the Pope's fashion after little break? Domengo, who
Speaker 1: do we have on the line today? So today I've
Speaker 1: got a super flimsy excuse for including some old friends
Speaker 1: on the show. Okay, when we started doing a part
Speaker 1: time Genius, my friends from way back from elementary school,
Speaker 1: Tim and Brian Gantscorne wrote me and they were so
Speaker 1: kind about the show, and I thought it'd be fun
Speaker 1: to them on. And then when we were doing this
Speaker 1: show on the Vatican, I thought perfect because they were
Speaker 1: both alter boys. But it turned out only Tim was
Speaker 1: an ulter boy, and I hadn't messed up in my
Speaker 1: memories of it. But welcome Tim and Brian. Thanks, thanks
Speaker 1: an honor to be here. So Tim, because I really
Speaker 1: don't know much about the church, I want to know, um,
Speaker 1: you know, isn't an honor to be an alter boy
Speaker 1: and how do you get selected for that position? Well,
Speaker 1: when I was a young child, my mother decided that
Speaker 1: I needed to be an alter boy and me to
Speaker 1: the church and dropped me off and didn't give me
Speaker 1: much choice. My older brother was awesome alter boy. I
Speaker 1: have three brothers. I'm not sure why half of us
Speaker 1: were selected for ball and told to do this and
Speaker 1: half of us I didn't have to do it. I'll
Speaker 1: have to ask my mother that we'll get her on
Speaker 1: the line for the next quiz. All right, well, what
Speaker 1: quiz are we playing today? Mango? We're gonna play a
Speaker 1: game called Name that Pope. So we'll give you a
Speaker 1: pretty long clue and you'll just have to give the
Speaker 1: name of the pope we're talking about. We're gonna have
Speaker 1: them competing with each other, right, So here's how we
Speaker 1: do this. Guys. When we're competing, we have you chime in.
Speaker 1: But in order to make sure that we can understand
Speaker 1: your chimes, we're going to give you animal noises. So
Speaker 1: Brian you get to make the cow noise. You will
Speaker 1: be mooing in order to chime in, and Tim you
Speaker 1: will get to kaka. Okay, you guys ready, So when
Speaker 1: you know the answer, make your noise. Here we go.
Speaker 1: Question number one. He was pope before our current pope.
Speaker 1: Also a name for a style of eggs poached with
Speaker 1: hollandaise sauce. Alright, that was a move, Brian ben addict. Okay,
Speaker 1: here we go. Question number two. This pope was only
Speaker 1: pope for thirty three days in His name is the same. Wow,
Speaker 1: Brian's the all star here. Well, let me finish the
Speaker 1: question and I'll let you answer. His name is the
Speaker 1: same as two beetles strung together. Who do we have? Brian? Okay?
Speaker 1: All right? Question number three. This pope and sat from
Speaker 1: four a d. Shares his name with a word you
Speaker 1: might plea if you didn't do the crime. All right,
Speaker 1: I believe I heard of Coca. Tim, who was it? Okay?
Speaker 1: Two to one? Here we go. Number four. This pope
Speaker 1: was an academic who reintroduced Europe to the Avacus. He
Speaker 1: shares his name with a black and white Looney Tunes
Speaker 1: cat and an actor named stallone. Oh, to tie it up,
Speaker 1: let's hear it, Tim, Yes, Sylvester the second. I believe right,
Speaker 1: that's right. I'm acting like I knew that it was
Speaker 1: on the sheet. Here I believe that would be Sylvester
Speaker 1: the Second, because yeah, okay, tied up, all right, here
Speaker 1: we go. This is the last one for the big
Speaker 1: win number five. This pope, known as the Warrior Pope,
Speaker 1: shares a name with Caesar, a basketball player named Irving,
Speaker 1: and in our drink stand at the mall, just barely
Speaker 1: Brian for the win, let's hear it. That's right, and
Speaker 1: the Warrior Pope was Julius the Second, who also commissioned
Speaker 1: this his team Chapelo. Okay, so, so how have our
Speaker 1: contestants done today? Mango? It was obviously very close, but
Speaker 1: Brian edged out Tim and uh so first places always
Speaker 1: gets a note to your mom or boss, sing your praises,
Speaker 1: and because we don't want Tim's mailbox feeling lonely, we're
Speaker 1: gonna send him a p plant, just like greg Or
Speaker 1: Mendel used to grow. What a great prize. Sometimes it
Speaker 1: almost seems better to be runner up on these quizzess. Definitely, well, guys,
Speaker 1: congratulations and thanks so much for joining us on Part
Speaker 1: Time Genius. Thank you so much. Welcome back to Part
Speaker 1: Time Genius now, Mango. I know we both wanted to
Speaker 1: talk the Pope's fashion and We've also promised to talk elections.
Speaker 1: I know, we promised so much stuff. Plus I don't
Speaker 1: think we've given enough details yet to make those one
Speaker 1: star reviewers happy. Probably not Well, I was going to
Speaker 1: suggest a super quick rundown of the government. Again. You
Speaker 1: you guys have done all this research on this. So
Speaker 1: here's what I want to do. I'll give you a
Speaker 1: department and you tell me a fact that you guys
Speaker 1: have pulled up. That sound good? Yeah, and I can
Speaker 1: use my notes, right all right, yes, yeah, you're allowed to,
Speaker 1: but you have to close your eyes, all right, Okay,
Speaker 1: the fire department, So this is easy. Like, I love
Speaker 1: that their fire trucks kind of look like short busses.
Speaker 1: All right, what about the justice system. There's only one judge,
Speaker 1: got no like an actual judge, but he has a
Speaker 1: lot of works. Well have I never heard about a
Speaker 1: judge that's that's so interesting? Okay? How about how about treasury?
Speaker 1: Well there's a coin and stamp department, but unlike the Pope,
Speaker 1: they're not infallible. In two thousand thirteen, they issued a
Speaker 1: coin that mistakenly spelled Jesus as leases, which instantly boosted
Speaker 1: the coins value, and luckily they only sold four before
Speaker 1: they discovered that those things are worth so much, they've
Speaker 1: only sold four of them. Okay, you must have read
Speaker 1: about this because I just thought it was interesting to
Speaker 1: think about the space program. Yeah. So you think with
Speaker 1: their history with early astronomers that the Church wasn't interested
Speaker 1: in telescopes, but they've actually invested in them since the
Speaker 1: fifteen hundreds and even today they have this advanced Vatican
Speaker 1: telescope at Mount Graham in Arizona, which was built in
Speaker 1: the nine nineties. Like it's really an area of interest.
Speaker 1: So the Vatican has a telescope in Arizona. Yeah, because
Speaker 1: they're interested in the heavens. Oh, that's interesting, all right.
Speaker 1: What about the military, Yeah, so, uh, this is easy too. Well,
Speaker 1: they've they've been using a small core of the Swiss
Speaker 1: Guard since the fourteen hundreds when the Swiss were considered
Speaker 1: the best mercenaries in the world. And uh, and they
Speaker 1: don't actually do a lot of fighting, like obviously they're
Speaker 1: they're just there for ceremonial purposes. They were this like
Speaker 1: really flamboyant guard and they do wear plain clothes when
Speaker 1: they've got duty to protect the pontiff, but it's highly
Speaker 1: selective like they're only a hundred fifty and you've got
Speaker 1: to be over five eight and Catholic and male and unmarried.
Speaker 1: There are lots of requirements. Yeah, alright, how about athletics.
Speaker 1: The Vatican actually has a soccer team and a cricket team.
Speaker 1: And the cricket team is really funny because they've they've
Speaker 1: only played a few matches, but they did beat a
Speaker 1: traveling Dutch team called the Fellowship of Fairly Odd Places.
Speaker 1: This Fellowship Fairly Odd Places. That doesn't sound like it
Speaker 1: would be a good cricket team. Is this Is this
Speaker 1: really a thing? I know, I want the jersey, but
Speaker 1: that's actually the name. They play like old school cricket
Speaker 1: in places where cricket isn't like traditionally played, so like
Speaker 1: Iceland or the Vatican and Dora. But the Vatican actually
Speaker 1: trounced them. Oh wow, that's pretty cool. All right. How
Speaker 1: about transportation? Okay, so I love this one. There's a
Speaker 1: train that comes through and there's only one station, like
Speaker 1: it just comes in and then it backs out, and
Speaker 1: it's mostly for freight. I mean, sometimes a dignitary will
Speaker 1: get on it. But you know, if you're talking about
Speaker 1: like the Pope's transportation. He's got this fleet of cars,
Speaker 1: like amazing old fancy cars, but because Francis doesn't love
Speaker 1: fancy things like, he mostly uses his forward focus and
Speaker 1: that's his popemobile, and sometimes he pleads with guards to
Speaker 1: let him take the city bus. He actually kind of
Speaker 1: sounds like the teenager who's been embarrassed about being driven
Speaker 1: around by his parents. But all right, so what about
Speaker 1: the Department of Exorcisms was something I saw? Oh, actually,
Speaker 1: I've got one more fact about transport that I want
Speaker 1: to say. So this is top secret and off limits,
Speaker 1: but there's one hollow wall that can be used to
Speaker 1: help the pope fleet in case the city's ever sacked,
Speaker 1: and it's been used historically and it runs from the
Speaker 1: papal apartments to a castle and possibly to other places. Oh.
Speaker 1: I thought maybe you were just trying to get around
Speaker 1: get the Department of exorcisms here while looking for a fact.
Speaker 1: But that's actually really interesting. Okay, but you still have
Speaker 1: to do exorcism. Yeah, so you actually hear less about
Speaker 1: exorcisms now, But Benedict was obsessed with them, and the
Speaker 1: Vatican's chief exorcist, this guy, Father Gabriel m R. He
Speaker 1: claimed to have performed twenty th cicisms between two thousand
Speaker 1: and two thousand ten. Also, you'll never guess his favorite movie.
Speaker 1: What's that? The Exorcist? Actually, I think I could have
Speaker 1: guessed that once you said that. All right, I think
Speaker 1: I've got one more. How about banking? So this one
Speaker 1: we've known for a long time, and it's like my
Speaker 1: favorite fact. The Vatican has the world's only a t
Speaker 1: M that operates in Latin. That is pretty awesome. All right,
Speaker 1: So there's certainly a lot for the pope to think about.
Speaker 1: But there's one more thing on the pope's mind, and
Speaker 1: that's fashion. So before Frances tried to get out of
Speaker 1: wearing fancy duds and going casual, pope fashion was actually
Speaker 1: kind of a thing. Yeah, it really was. And Benedict
Speaker 1: was kind of a clothes horse. I mean, John Paul
Speaker 1: the Second was known for wearing Doc Martin's and brown ones.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I remember seeing that he and the Doali
Speaker 1: Lama actually traded tips on footwear and both wore Doc
Speaker 1: Martins for their comfort. Yeah, it's funny, like I think
Speaker 1: of Doc Martin's is such a punk brand and nothing
Speaker 1: to do with religion. But Benedict he wouldn't be caught
Speaker 1: dead and does popes In the olden days they used
Speaker 1: to wear red, but he brought the style back of
Speaker 1: wearing a red slippers and also the cave with an
Speaker 1: ermane for In fact, he was so fashionable that Donna
Speaker 1: Tulla Versacci actually designed a line using him his inspiration. Well,
Speaker 1: and I know the Church was sensitive about Benedict being
Speaker 1: seen as as two fan. Yeah. When a reporter commented
Speaker 1: on his red Gucci slippers, the Vatican responded by saying
Speaker 1: that Benedict isn't concerned with labels, and here's their statement.
Speaker 1: He said he couldn't spot a Gucci from a smoochi.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure I could either. Yeah, I'm not that fashionable.
Speaker 1: Any other innovations I know Pope John Paul the Second
Speaker 1: War rainbow vestments once, yeah, which was a little disastrous
Speaker 1: because this artist convinced him that the rainbow represented God's
Speaker 1: promise to Noah that there would be all this peace
Speaker 1: after the rainstorm. But when the artist later suggested that
Speaker 1: maybe it was a gesture of goodwill to the LGBT community,
Speaker 1: the Vatican responded that no one has a copyright on rainbows,
Speaker 1: and what about those ceremonial tiaras. They're they're so ornate. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: the only person I could find who was truly envious
Speaker 1: of the trs was Napoleon. Like, apparently the crown wears
Speaker 1: about seven ounds. But when he designed one and gifted
Speaker 1: it to a pope, and he had the thought in
Speaker 1: the back of his mind that one day he might
Speaker 1: like take that power, he constructed a ten pound t
Speaker 1: r I know, which is so Napoleon. It's like a
Speaker 1: bowling on your head. Crazy. But back cround is actually
Speaker 1: also in the rotation, and they are often worn during
Speaker 1: important events, like you know, during the papal coronation. All right,
Speaker 1: well that brings us back to the election of the Pope,
Speaker 1: as we promised we would get to. I do know,
Speaker 1: there's a council and they deliberate forever and they decide
Speaker 1: I think under the Sistine Chapel. But tell us a
Speaker 1: little bit about the process. Yeah, so's it's kind of amazing.
Speaker 1: First off, even if you bought take us to the
Speaker 1: Sistine Chapel, like to go on a tour, everything closes
Speaker 1: down for the election, so you're out of luck. But
Speaker 1: that's where the Council of Cardinals meets, they do a
Speaker 1: morning mass, and they take an oath of secrecy, and
Speaker 1: then they vote with paper ballots and they deliberate and
Speaker 1: it's all super quiet. Well, and that's for good reason,
Speaker 1: because I do remember reading that King's used to have
Speaker 1: the right to veto the decision of who became pope,
Speaker 1: and so they try to influence the elections, and so
Speaker 1: the secrecy is really to protect you know, the institution. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right. And in fact, you can actually be excommunicated
Speaker 1: if you leak any details. It's a little like being
Speaker 1: on jury duty, Like you can't tweet or read the
Speaker 1: paper or make any phone calls. And to prevent leaks,
Speaker 1: the Vatican actually brings in porta potties. I mean there's
Speaker 1: no I mean they're easy to access, like bathrooms one
Speaker 1: floor down, but no one's allowed to leave. Wow. When
Speaker 1: it can take days to do this, right, Yeah, which
Speaker 1: is why they sent up those smoke signals. That's to
Speaker 1: communicate to the public. When the signal is white, they're
Speaker 1: just burning ballots, and when it's black they used to
Speaker 1: add straw, but now they add chemicals. I also read
Speaker 1: that there's a second furnace now too, and I didn't
Speaker 1: really understand that, but I guess sometimes the smoke would
Speaker 1: come out gray and people would be all confused start
Speaker 1: asking questions, so they added a second furnace to make
Speaker 1: sure the smoke comes out the right color. Now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so this is the weirdest thing to me, and that's
Speaker 1: that at the end of this massive process, the pope
Speaker 1: isn't even really declared pope, like his official title is.
Speaker 1: I'm going to read this Bishop of Rome, Vicar of
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme
Speaker 1: Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and
Speaker 1: Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of
Speaker 1: the Vatican City, Servant and sorry, servant of the Servants
Speaker 1: of God. You've done. He's got eight titles and none
Speaker 1: of them are the Pope, and apparently that comes from
Speaker 1: people calling him like the Holy Father or Santa Papa. Also,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember this, but I remember
Speaker 1: being really tickled when I saw this March Madness style
Speaker 1: bracket for popes Like this was back when Benedict was
Speaker 1: being elected, and I had no idea that betting on
Speaker 1: the pope was a thing. Like it's been a thing
Speaker 1: since the sixteen hundreds. Apparently the Italian market just goes
Speaker 1: crazy for it. Yeah, the Irish sights are all over
Speaker 1: it too, I guess not. Not surprisingly, if you put
Speaker 1: your money on Francis, you would have made twenty five
Speaker 1: to one, Yeah, which is a lot of money. But
Speaker 1: you know, all this talk of the pope and we
Speaker 1: still haven't gotten into some of the crazy things hiding
Speaker 1: in the Vatican archives. All right, well, why don't we
Speaker 1: break for a quiz and then we'll dive right into
Speaker 1: those juicy stories. Our guest today is the best selling
Speaker 1: author and journalist. We got to know her pretty well
Speaker 1: in our years at Mental philoss and because we're talking
Speaker 1: about secrets of the Vatican today, we wanted to have
Speaker 1: her on just because one of her many brilliant books
Speaker 1: is titled If Nune's Ruled the World. Ten Sisters on
Speaker 1: a Mission. Joe Piazza, welcome to part time Genius. Thanks
Speaker 1: for having me. Yeah, of course, So, Joe, Uh, I
Speaker 1: know you started out as a Gossap columnist and I
Speaker 1: remember you telling me some incredible stories of like baking
Speaker 1: injuries to get into hospitals to chase down stories and
Speaker 1: I want to know if you could share, like a
Speaker 1: funny story or the lens you've gone to to get
Speaker 1: a story. I did, indeed. So I was a goss
Speaker 1: of commist for the New York Daily News back in
Speaker 1: the days when people still read newspapers. It was a
Speaker 1: really long time ago, and I was down in Florida
Speaker 1: covering the MTV Video Music Awards, and it was that
Speaker 1: the year that Signite, the music producer, got shot at
Speaker 1: one of these parties. And I decided that I was
Speaker 1: going to crack this story wide open, that I was.
Speaker 1: I was going to discover who shot Signite. So I
Speaker 1: busted into the emergency room by faking appendicitis. I made
Speaker 1: it all the way. I made it all the way in.
Speaker 1: And I was just young early twentysomething reporter UM trying
Speaker 1: to make a name for myself, and busted into the
Speaker 1: emergency room, doubled over in in fill Paine and got
Speaker 1: so far as that they inserted and I V And
Speaker 1: it turns out my big scoop was that Schignight shot himself.
Speaker 1: That the safety wasn't done. Um, there wasn't some big
Speaker 1: East coast West coast rap war thing going on. It
Speaker 1: was It was just some some idiot guy and some
Speaker 1: idiot girl who's been stuck in the e er with
Speaker 1: an IVY in her arm and a bunch of doctors
Speaker 1: asking her about her stomach king. Um. But it was great.
Speaker 1: We did get that story and my editors. My editors
Speaker 1: never sent me to a Video Music Awards over again,
Speaker 1: which I think was a blessing in the sky. So
Speaker 1: how did you get out of this situation? You're you're
Speaker 1: there with the ivy in your arm, Like, what what
Speaker 1: happens next? I ripped? I ripped to help myself, and
Speaker 1: I snuck out of the hospital. I mean, I think that.
Speaker 1: I think at that point I told myself that I
Speaker 1: was in a romantic comedy, um like, and I was
Speaker 1: like in a movie and had had this scripted, and
Speaker 1: so I was I was accouring, I've got this, ripped
Speaker 1: the ivy out just and just snuck out with a
Speaker 1: hospital bracelet on, you know, and those things are hard
Speaker 1: to get off. I think I had that thing on
Speaker 1: for like the next two days. It was kind of
Speaker 1: this badge of honor. But it was also pre smartphones
Speaker 1: and pre social media, so there was really like otherwise
Speaker 1: if this happened now, people would be tweeting from that emergency.
Speaker 1: That's what they do when they see a celebrity in there. Um,
Speaker 1: but no one I still get to tell this story
Speaker 1: like word of mouth. I have no pictures. I would
Speaker 1: have video if this happened now. So I kind of
Speaker 1: cherished the story because it's something that only I can tell.
Speaker 1: I have no evidence. I have no proof. I could
Speaker 1: be making it up, like, well, we are going to
Speaker 1: get to the romantic comedy that is your life bit.
Speaker 1: But I wanted to ask what made you go from
Speaker 1: being this incredible journalist to like studying and writing about nuns. Well,
Speaker 1: I was burnt out. I was burn I blame Britney
Speaker 1: Spears actually, um, And I tell I tried to explain
Speaker 1: this to the nuns several times and they're like, Brittaney,
Speaker 1: what Brittney, And let me show you this video of
Speaker 1: her as a Catholic school girl. So it was it
Speaker 1: was very Britney Spears big breakdown. And I was covering that,
Speaker 1: the one where she shaved her head and started attacking
Speaker 1: with orders with an umbrella, and I was covering that,
Speaker 1: And I was covering the two thousand and eight election
Speaker 1: and the Elliott Spitzer scandal all at the same time,
Speaker 1: and I was burning out on these terrible people. I
Speaker 1: was just exhausted by them. And so the Daily News
Speaker 1: would pay for me to go back to school and
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, what's what's the answer, doe to Britney Spears.
Speaker 1: I'm like, Oh, it's religious studies. So I had the
Speaker 1: newspaper pay for me to get this masters and religious studies,
Speaker 1: and through that I started interviewing nuns from my final thesis.
Speaker 1: And I like to say that one nun leads to
Speaker 1: another nun like a gateway drug. And I just I
Speaker 1: fell into this rabbit hole of the world of nuns
Speaker 1: and was hooked right away because their stories just hadn't
Speaker 1: been told. I mean, the Vatican really kind of covers
Speaker 1: up everything that the nuns do, all of their good
Speaker 1: work there. It's it's funny. They're almost ashamed of all
Speaker 1: of the good things that the nuns are doing. And
Speaker 1: I spent about two years with with these Catholic nuns.
Speaker 1: I interviewed hundreds of them, but the stories, uh that
Speaker 1: are in the book If Nun's Ruled the World, there's
Speaker 1: about ten of them, and they're just they're all these badass,
Speaker 1: cool feminist women who changed their little corner of the
Speaker 1: world or the big corner of the world in some
Speaker 1: cases for for good, just because they wanted to do
Speaker 1: to make the world a better place. Well, what's what's
Speaker 1: one one of your favorite stories from the book? Um?
Speaker 1: I think my favorite story is about the Iron Nune.
Speaker 1: This fun blows people away when I when I talked
Speaker 1: to them about it. Um. Sister Madonna Boodher started running
Speaker 1: when she was in her forties and she's now in
Speaker 1: her late eighties and she's done more than forty seven
Speaker 1: iron Man races and they call her the Iron Nun.
Speaker 1: She's been since the book came out. She been in
Speaker 1: a Nike commercial, and she's written, she's written her own
Speaker 1: her own book, and she's she's just this feisty little
Speaker 1: octogenarian who happens to run iron Men, and she's absolutely incredible. People.
Speaker 1: People fall madly in love with her on the race
Speaker 1: course because when people start to lag behind, she actually
Speaker 1: slows down. She cares less about her time that about
Speaker 1: helping everyone else on the race course. She slows down
Speaker 1: and sings with them and praise with them sometimes to
Speaker 1: try to help them get through the race. Which is
Speaker 1: the opposite of everyone else who's doing an iron man's
Speaker 1: probably like a subset of the most self obsessed people
Speaker 1: in the in the athletic world. And yeah, she's great.
Speaker 1: She's the one that got me running. I was I
Speaker 1: used to you know, smoke like a pack of cigarette today,
Speaker 1: and she got me into running half marathons. So yeah,
Speaker 1: she she's one of the one of the most inspiring
Speaker 1: sisters that's in the book. Now you've you've just had
Speaker 1: a baby, but you've also recently written a book with
Speaker 1: your husband and called How to Be Married? So what
Speaker 1: what made you take on this project? I did? I
Speaker 1: did um mostly because I had no idea how to
Speaker 1: be married? Uh. And my way of figuring, my way
Speaker 1: of figuring out the world is pretty much just a
Speaker 1: report on it and you know, then report back. So
Speaker 1: my poor husband is like, you really you have no
Speaker 1: idea what you're doing. And I'm like, no, no clue.
Speaker 1: So I was a travel editor at the time for Yahoo. Uh.
Speaker 1: God God blessed them, and they were sending me all
Speaker 1: over the world, and I figured, all right, what if
Speaker 1: I could crowdsource marriage advice from hundreds of people as
Speaker 1: as I'm going to these different countries, and I was
Speaker 1: going to France and Kenya, Tanzania, India, Israel, and I
Speaker 1: did like, I got Yahoo pretty much to foot the
Speaker 1: bill for me traveling all over and asking for marriage advice,
Speaker 1: and it ended up being really interesting. It came out
Speaker 1: in April, and since then I get emails from from
Speaker 1: when my all of the time who were like, thank you,
Speaker 1: because everyone gives you advice about the wedding, about this
Speaker 1: one day where you have these tiny past appetizers and
Speaker 1: a band who looks like Mumford and sons and people
Speaker 1: are sitting on hay Ma else and you spend a
Speaker 1: lot of money, but no one talks about the next
Speaker 1: fifty years about the actual marriage. And this book talks
Speaker 1: about what happens with the actual marriage. So this was
Speaker 1: us figuring out how to be married on the fly,
Speaker 1: and it's going pretty well because we made a baby
Speaker 1: about four weeks ago. I love that we pulled you
Speaker 1: out of that to take a quiz with us. That's right,
Speaker 1: that's right. So speaking of quizzes, what what quiz do
Speaker 1: we have for Joe today? Mango, We're gonna play a
Speaker 1: game called where they cell abate? Alright, so here we
Speaker 1: go I will reach is involved. We'll reach you a name,
Speaker 1: and you have to tell us whether the person was,
Speaker 1: in fact sellibate. Here we go, alright. Number one, Isaac Newton,
Speaker 1: the physicist and inventor of the cat flap. Isaac Newton
Speaker 1: sellibate or not? I kind of want to say celibate.
Speaker 1: You're right. Well, while he was interested in the laws
Speaker 1: of motion, none of them had to do with the ocean. Right,
Speaker 1: all right, one for one for Isaac excellent. Number two
Speaker 1: Florence Nightingale. Don't see. I feel like Clarence Nightingale really
Speaker 1: could have could have gotten a lot of tail out there.
Speaker 1: But I'm gonna say, but she you're not celibate. I'm
Speaker 1: going to not celibate. That would have been what I
Speaker 1: would have guessed as well. What's the answer, mango, she's celibate? Um? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, all these patients fell in love with her,
Speaker 1: and she had countless marriage proposals, but but she decided
Speaker 1: to stay true and she lived into pretty old age.
Speaker 1: Right at wow? Okay, all right, here we go one
Speaker 1: out of two. Number three Tesla Nicola, Tesla inventor and
Speaker 1: the Thomas Edison rival. I'm gonna say celibate. That's right, correct, right,
Speaker 1: maybe because of the heartbreak over the pigeon. We have
Speaker 1: all heard the pigeon story, right, fell in love with
Speaker 1: a pigeon. All right, Well, you know that's that's the
Speaker 1: kind of thing you don't get over. That's very, very true. Okay.
Speaker 1: Number four, Laura Ingalls Wilder was not celibate, absolutely right. Okay.
Speaker 1: The last one a till of the hun sell it.
Speaker 1: You kind of want that to be the answer, but
Speaker 1: unfortunately it's I know, I wish full thinking, but he
Speaker 1: was not sell of it yet. Twelve wives, twelve wives. Wow, alright,
Speaker 1: So how is Joe done today? Mango? So Joe wh
Speaker 1: an excellent three for five and Whish entitles her to
Speaker 1: the big prize, which is our total admiration. Al right, congratulations,
Speaker 1: which is not a box of condoms. But but thank
Speaker 1: you so much for being here, Joe. If if if you're listening,
Speaker 1: go out and get How to Be Married or her
Speaker 1: other book, Fitness Junkie, which is on shelves now. Thanks
Speaker 1: for having me, guys, Somyga. At the top of the show,
Speaker 1: we talked about the Vaticans one star reviews on trip Advisor,
Speaker 1: and you were telling me how much awesomeness is at
Speaker 1: the Vatican, So why don't we prove it with some
Speaker 1: of our favorite things hiding behind the Vatican doors. Well,
Speaker 1: they're the obvious things, right, like the letter of Henry
Speaker 1: the eighth cent with his request for an annulment, which
Speaker 1: obviously got rejected, and the Pope's letter to excommunicate Martin Luther.
Speaker 1: There's awesome historical stuff like that all stored there. But
Speaker 1: like I mentioned at the top, I have no idea
Speaker 1: what other sort of records were on file. Like there's
Speaker 1: a note Michael Angelo sent the Pope letting him know
Speaker 1: that the Vatican was three months behind on paying their
Speaker 1: guards and if they didn't put me up fast enough.
Speaker 1: There was all this talk of like the guards walking
Speaker 1: out on their job. Or this is letter from the
Speaker 1: Ojibway tribe and ontarry go and it's written on bark
Speaker 1: and it comes from seven and just thanking the Pope
Speaker 1: for his help. But the details are really sweet, like
Speaker 1: they addressed the Pope as the great master of prayer.
Speaker 1: He holds the place of Jesus. And while he was
Speaker 1: set in May, the date actually says where there is
Speaker 1: much grass in the month of the flowers like, I
Speaker 1: kind of love that. That is pretty great. And there
Speaker 1: are also things like the letters from Lincoln and Jefferson
Speaker 1: Davis that you mentioned before during the Civil War, and
Speaker 1: they were each trying to get the pope support. But
Speaker 1: what's so strange about that is that neither of them
Speaker 1: was Catholic. Yeah, the Pope's note back acknowledging Jefferson Davis
Speaker 1: and the Confederacy. It was touted as this big win,
Speaker 1: like the South treated as like this official documentation that
Speaker 1: it was its own nation, And I guess it was
Speaker 1: kind of obvious, but I didn't even think about the
Speaker 1: paper trail, Like there are all sorts of documents about
Speaker 1: the personal affairs of cardinals, both good and bad, from
Speaker 1: the nine twenties on, and hundreds of years of annulmen papers.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a ton of records to keep if
Speaker 1: you think about this. And there's something like fifty two
Speaker 1: miles of shelves there. So browsing is definitely prohibited. But
Speaker 1: the so called Secret Archives where all this stuff is housed,
Speaker 1: it it actually is open to scholars. Yeah. One funny
Speaker 1: thing about the Secret Archives is that it's actually this
Speaker 1: mistranslation and there's probably some fun stuff parted there. It
Speaker 1: actually translates more is the pope's personal archives. Okay, but
Speaker 1: I don't think just a bunch of historical records are
Speaker 1: going to impress our trip Advisor friends, So we might
Speaker 1: need some more off limits type of things of what
Speaker 1: else you got for us. It's funny because I had
Speaker 1: all these like cute things lined up, Like Renaissance painters
Speaker 1: used to get bored with their motifs that they had
Speaker 1: to paint, So like, I know, there's one who had
Speaker 1: to paint all these lions, and he did this one
Speaker 1: line facing the other ways, sort of like playful, and
Speaker 1: so does this whole where's Waldo motif going on? So
Speaker 1: there's an erotic fresco that you need to hear about.
Speaker 1: All right, I think this might be the one. This
Speaker 1: might be what we're looking for. So, you know, there's
Speaker 1: all this talk about the Vatican having these giant stacks
Speaker 1: and like perverse art and and uh, most of that's
Speaker 1: completely bunker really, it's all hogwash, But this one's actually true.
Speaker 1: So in fifteen sixteen, the painter Raphael was commissioned to
Speaker 1: decorate a cardinal's bathroom, and the cardinal wanted this really
Speaker 1: like lusty sex scene filled with pagan creatures, and Raphael
Speaker 1: got really into it. It's like totally in a classical style,
Speaker 1: but he goes crazy. It's supposedly done like a graphic novel,
Speaker 1: and they're like naked nymphs and sadder's and like outrageous
Speaker 1: sex scenes. There's a goddess looking in a mirror while
Speaker 1: she's wrapped in a guy's legs. It's it's really nuts.
Speaker 1: But over the years there's been so much outrage about
Speaker 1: it that it's been whitewashed and the space has been
Speaker 1: turned into a kitchen and then I think a meeting room,
Speaker 1: but there's still portions the peak out and according to
Speaker 1: one visitor who saw it, there's a drawing of Pan
Speaker 1: who apparently was well, he has this enormous member and
Speaker 1: he's also excited. But then someone whited out his member,
Speaker 1: so now it looks even more like comically big because
Speaker 1: you can't see how large it was. All Right, that
Speaker 1: made do the trigger. I think that probably takes it
Speaker 1: from a one star to maybe a one and a
Speaker 1: half star for somebody's too. But before we sign off,
Speaker 1: what do you say we have a little fact off?
Speaker 1: All right, here's one about the Sistine Chapel, so michael
Speaker 1: Angelo never wanted to paint it. Apparently it was just
Speaker 1: painted as a giant sky with stars before and the
Speaker 1: gig didn't appeal to him. He only saw himself as
Speaker 1: a sculptor. In fact, in his letter to friends, he
Speaker 1: complained that he never should have taken on the assignment,
Speaker 1: saying I'm not in the right place. I'm not a painter,
Speaker 1: but he is a painter. So the reporter who broke
Speaker 1: the news about Bendicks stepping down from being Pope actually
Speaker 1: got the scoop because she is the only person in
Speaker 1: the room who understood his announcement. And that's because he
Speaker 1: made it in Latin. All right, Well, the Vatican has
Speaker 1: a strong stance against gluten free Eucharus. They'll allow it,
Speaker 1: I mean, for people with serious gluten problems, but they
Speaker 1: do not like it. Also, adding honey or flavoring to
Speaker 1: the bread is severely frowned upon. So, according to the
Speaker 1: Definitive Book of Body Language, five University of Texas College
Speaker 1: students were arrested at the Vatican for flashing the hook'm
Speaker 1: horns side. Apparently it's a sign for cuck holding someone.
Speaker 1: In Italy, it's bad idea. All right, well, the Vatican
Speaker 1: has announced this position on baptizing aliens. Did you know this.
Speaker 1: It's good to have a stance on this. Just to
Speaker 1: be clear, they'll happily convert extraterrestrials if they're interested in
Speaker 1: becoming Catholics. I love that and I want to sit
Speaker 1: in on those confessions. But before we go, I wanted
Speaker 1: to give a special shout out to Dolan Brown for
Speaker 1: pulling together a ton of research for this episode, and
Speaker 1: for all of you out there on Part Time Genius Land,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for listening. Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 1: Part Time Genius is a production of how stuff works
Speaker 1: and wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people who do
Speaker 1: the important things we couldn't even begin to understand. Tristan
Speaker 1: McNeil does the editing thing. Noel Brown made the theme
Speaker 1: song and does the MIXI mixy sound thing. Jerry Rowland
Speaker 1: does the exact producer thing. Gave Bluesier is our lead researcher,
Speaker 1: with support from the research army including Austin Thompson, Nolan
Speaker 1: Brown and Lucas Adams and Eve Jeff Cook gets the
Speaker 1: show to your ears. Good job, Eves if you like
Speaker 1: what you heard, we hope you'll subscribe. And if you
Speaker 1: really really like what you've heard, maybe you could leave
Speaker 1: a good review for us. Did you did you forget Jason?
Speaker 1: Jason who