Free Republic

A work of street art that turned Pope Francis into “superpope” will now support Vatican charitable projects through the sale of t-shirts bearing the flying pontiff, artist MauPal said on Friday. In 2014, graffiti artist MauPal — whose real name is Mauro Pallotta — depicted Francis as a superman on a wall in the Eternal City, flying through the air with his right fist outstretched and white cassock billowing behind him. The pope clutched his trademark black bag in his left hand, from which a blue-and-red striped scarf peeked out. When it appeared in Rome in January 2014, it captured...

LIMA — It was more than just an answer to prayer. A US military mission that cornered and killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan was nothing short of a miracle, said Peru's President Alan Garcia, who attributed the divine intervention to newly beatified pontiff John Paul II. "His first miracle has been to rid the world of this incarnation of evil, this demon of hatred and criminality," the Peruvian leader said, referring to the Al-Qaeda leader. The late John Paul II showed uncanny timing, with his miracle falling on the very same day as a Rome ceremony beatifying him. Pope...

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Pope John Paul II is being reborn in a Colombian comic book as a superhero battling evil with an anti-Devil cape and special chastity pants. The first episode of the "Incredible Popeman" is about to go on sale in Colombia and shows the late Polish pontiff meeting comic book legends such as Batman and Superman to learn how to use superpowers to battle Satan. "The pope was a real-life superhero, of flesh and blood," said Colombian artist Rodolfo Leon, a non-practicing Catholic who has been working on the comic book for about a year. Like any...