Homer Simpson is a ‘true Catholic’, says Vatican paper

HOMER SIMPSON has debated with God on the merits of religion versus sport, been banished to hell and frolicked nude in the Garden of Eden.

He is a lazy, pot bellied, glutton with a craving for doughnuts and Duff beer, but he has just been declared a true Catholic by the Vatican’s official newspaper.

L’Osservatore Romano praised the long-running TV cartoon series for addressing issues related to family, community, education and religion.

In an article headlined, Homer and Bart are Catholics, the newspaper described The Simpsons as one of the few TV programmes for children in which Christian faith, religion, and questions about God are recurrent themes.

The family “recites prayers before meals and, in their own peculiar way, believes in the life thereafter”.

It quoted an analysis by a Jesuit priest, Fr Francesco Occhetta, of a 2005 episode of The Simpsons: The Father, the Son and the Holy Guest Star, about Catholicism, aired weeks after the death of Pope John Paul II.

“Few people know it, and he does everything he can to hide it, but it is true: Homer J Simpson is a Catholic,” insists L’Osservatore Romano.

The show’s producer said he was shocked at the analysis, pointing out that the Simpson family attends the First Church of Springfield “which is decidedly Presbylutheran.”

“We’ve pretty clearly shown that Homer is not Catholic,” Al Jean told the Entertainment Weekly website. “I really don’t think he could go without eating meat on Fridays for even an hour.”

The Roman newspaper quoted an analysis by a Jesuit priest, the Rev Francesco Occhetta, discussing Homer’s and his son Bart’s conversion in a 2005 episode after meeting with a sympathetic priest, Father Sean, voiced by actor Liam Neeson.

L’Osservatore says the analysis shows that behind the TV programme’s jokes are themes “linked to the sense and quality of life”.

It is not the first time that the Vatican newspaper has praised The Simpsons. On the show’s 20th anniversary last December, it said that “the relationship between man and God” is one of its most important themes.