This Jesus and Mo strip, called “meter,” came with the caption, “A Friday Flashback from 2013, back when irony meters were a thing.”
I think Jesus is referring to this incident that Grok looked up:
In early 2013, Abbot Cuthbert Johnson, OSB (former Abbot of Quarr Abbey, advisor to the Vatican’s Vox Clara committee, and consultor to the Congregation for Divine Worship), publicly commented on the new English translation of the Roman Missal (third typical edition, implemented in English-speaking countries from Advent 2011).
Responding to an online survey by The Tablet on the reception of the translation, he said:
“The Tablet’s survey, however, appears to indicate that while there is an openness and a degree of appreciation for the new translation, there is a desire for an improvement that will ensure that the English flows more smoothly, and that the vocabulary, while being more dignified is not, as sometimes appears, a little abstruse and pretentious.”
These remarks stood out because they came from someone inside the Vatican’s translation-oversight structures. The new translation (following the principles of Liturgiam authenticam) had been controversial among some clergy and laity for its more formal, Latinate style; Johnson’s comments were seen as an acknowledgment of criticisms about awkward phrasing or overly elevated vocabulary while still noting some positive reception. He also observed that English texts sometimes need adjustment for musical settings (drawing a parallel to permissions Solesmes Abbey had received for Latin chant).
Johnson (1946–2017) was a respected liturgist and musician who had worked in the Congregation for Divine Worship, contributed extensively to scholarly work on the sources of the Roman Missal, and in 2011 authored Understanding the Roman Missal: The New Translation (Catholic Truth Society), which explained and supported the revised texts.
Well, you have to work hard to find iron in there!
As always, we see the classic Mo behavior here: he exemplifies exactly what he’s criticizing.
Ayatollah Khomeini proclaimed “there are no jokes in Islam.” There is no sense of irony either. I am reminded of the time not too long ago when Pope Benedict quoted a previous Pope as saying Islam is a violent religion, which led to violent protests by Muslims all over the world with hundreds killed. “How dare you call my religion violent – I’ll kill you for saying that!”
Geez, could they be as thin-skinned as our current president and his idolizers???
“Adamantine certainty” applies as well to believers in trans-substantiation and other Woke dogma…