Vatican Paper Praises 'Simpsons' on 20th Anniversary

The official Vatican newspaper, L'Ossservatore Romano, may have just issued the greatest quote of the year. In recognizing The Simpsons on its 20th anniversary, the paper heaped praise on the first family of Springfield, even taking note of the show's on-again off-again relationship with religion. "Homer finds in God his last refuge, even though he sometimes gets His name sensationally wrong," the paper noted hilariously. "But these are just minor mistakes, after all, the two know each other well." Jebus was officially unavailable for comment. Stating that there is enough of a history with the characters to form a kind of "Simpsonian theology," L'Osservatore says that Homer's come-and-go, rather selfish use of religion shows "a mirror of the indifference and the need that modern man feels toward faith." Oh...they're taking it seriously? Yes, and in fact, while the paper makes light criticisms of the show's violence and "extreme choices by the scriptwriters," it is a mostly favorable view of the legendary show, which might be a little surprising, especially coming from the paper that generally does not concern itself with such subjects. But that kind of underscores the importance of the show.