The Fantastic Second Act of Pope Benedict XVI: Superhero

[vimeo][/vimeo]

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI—the only instance of a pope stepping down in 600 years—caught the world by surprise today. There are many who are celebrating this announcement—particularly supporters of gay marriage—a union this Pope has vehemently opposed. But there are plenty who may be mourning the loss of Ratzinger, including the Italian artist Laurina Paperina, if only because the German Bishop provided such great fodder for her creations.

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Paperina has been using the Pope as a protagonist in several of her multimedia works, where he appears as a warrior defeating evil. Paperina's effortless wit often makes the most tragic and uncomfortable situations seem hilarious, as demonstrated in the animation, The Great Ratzinger, which shows the Pope battling everyone from a couple engaging in sex before marriage, gay smurfs, and Satan worshippers.

Paperina explains, "It's my personal vision about the Pope. For the Christian people he's like a superhero, so I played with this ideology…it's not blasphemy, it's only an aggravation about the character of Pope: The name 'Great Ratzinger' is a joke and comes from the Robot 'Great Mazinger Z.'"

As for what she thinks is next for the great Ratzinger? "Today the Pope is like an old and tired superhero…so now I should do the next and last episode 'the Ex-Great Ratzinger (retired),' but I want to wait [for] the next Pope also, maybe He will be another great fake superhero!"

Images courtesy of Laurina Paperina