Culture

The Pope Called For Peace Between Christians And Muslims; Immediately Got Turned Into A Rap Meme

"His palms were bloody, knees beat, cross was heavy, there's wine on his torso already."

by Meg Watson  1 December 2015

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As far as old white guys who rule over controversial institutions with notoriously antiquated views on society and culture go, Pope Francis is often thought to be pretty cool. I mean, he’s not Fonzie. He’s not Kanye. But — with his acknowledgment of the Catholic Church’s faults, uninhibited discussion of climate change, and inexplicable prog-rock album — he’s slightly better than your homophobic old granddad who sometimes takes you out to eat ice cream in silence.

Now this whole bizarre image has been taken to its natural conclusion.

Over the weekend, Cool Pope Francis was touring parts of the Central African Republic and spreading a message of solidarity to those affected by civil conflict. “Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters,” he said. “We must, therefore, consider ourselves and conduct ourselves as such.” Unfortunately, while he was saying these quite lovely words, AFP photographer Guercia Gianluigi snapped this picture of him:

Over the past 24 hours, the internet has taken it from there and Twitter has been flooded with substitute captions with the hashtag #PopeBars:

Because who needs a Christian message of hope and unity in a conflict zone when you could have a 78-year-old man rapping Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz lolol.

I mean… he really should not have held the mic like that. He brought this on himself.

Just for context, those last three are a respected academic and author, a much-loved Broadway composer and performer, and a legendary East Coast hip hop star.

God bless the internet.

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Feature image via Guercia Gianluigi/AFP.