Vatican City Tailors
When the Pope was in the hospital, I told people he was probably going to die there—or as soon as he got out—because he wanted to die. He was an honest man, and he knew something bad was coming. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop—another scandal, more children abused. He just couldn’t take it anymore.
Of course, some people in Argentina had mixed feelings about him. During the time when young people were being disappeared, tortured, and killed, he didn’t really take a stand the way you would expect. At least, that’s what my Tango friends told me when I visited Buenos Aires to dance.
I just watched Conclave—an excellent movie about choosing a Pope—and then you realize: here we are in 2025, and it’s all happening again just as Americans run back to religion because they are not happy. China has 1.5 BILLION people and 90% of them believe nothing, and 55% of that number are atheists. Some of us don’t want to live in a reality show.
I remember when Weight Watchers started in 1963 and fatness was rare. When women gained too much weight, they had to wear maternity tops. You didn’t go to the office in sweatpants and sneakers and everything stretchy.
But when QVC started 40 years ago, they mainly sold cosmetics and jewelry. Tons of jewelry. Vanity sizing was just starting, and there were not many apparel manufacturers with sizable lines. A friend of mine had one of QVC’s biggest skincare lines back then. I remember her telling me that when she asked the President of QVC about the demographics, he said: "We know very little except there are 40 million, almost all female and fat." Today we would describe them as only a little overweight.
It’s funny now to read about how the Vatican has to alter the robes for these high-ranking men in red. I'm sure the robes are custom-made, but still they’re made for today’s bodies. One thing you notice watching the film: a lot of big-sized Cardinals. It’s awfully convenient that they wear those full red robes—it hides a lot, kind of like a burka. Plus, you think about their limited entertainment when they are not sleeping or praying. I'm sure they're escaping into food and wine. That is a big issue since Gluttony is one of the SEVEN DEADLY SINS.
Obviously, I can't read anything even about the Pope’s death without thinking about its implications for our sinning bodies. This article about the Pope was from The Free Press—on Substack, founded by Bari Weiss and other former legacy journalists—the best of the best. I just copied the headline. Other than when Bari did a dopey Ozempic post about her experience, all the reporting is first-rate.
Obesity—whether papal or penitent version—goes back to a denial of the obvious. It's not just that the statistics are wrong—people want to believe in them just as they do in religions. But your eyesight should tell you differently. You don’t need a study. If you're in a room with 10 people, and only two are normal-sized, you can't keep telling yourself that four out of 10 are "normal." The Cardinals’ custom-made red robes can’t hide the immoral fatness.
Proverbs 23:20-21 (ESV)
"Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags."
Philippians 3:19 (ESV)
"Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things."
Proverbs 28:7 (ESV)
"The one who keeps the law is a son with understanding, but a companion of gluttons shames his father."
Deuteronomy 21:20 (ESV)
"And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’"
Titus 1:12 (ESV)
"One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, 'Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.'"
Ezekiel 16:49 (ESV)
"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy."
Corinthians 10:31 (ESV)
"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."