The shadow of a caveman

Pope Francis is, or rather was, well known as a football man and, in particular, as a committed supporter of the San Lorenzo club in his native Argentina, so it rather came as a shock when he recently confessed that he had never seen his fellow countryman Lionel Messi in action.

But it was the explanation for this ostensibly extraordinary oversight – that the Pope hasn’t watched television since 1990 – which should perhaps give us all pause in this neck of the woods.

I mean, perish the thought, but you don’t think His Holiness could possibly have settled down to watch the World Cup that year, copped an eyeful of the horror show that was Ireland versus Egypt and thought, ‘ah jeez’ – or words to that effect – ‘I can’t be having this’.