Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Silly Roman Tricks...

One of the things that one begins to do when one has lived in Rome for a while is play 'spot the cleric' in restaurants. Even when they dress down, it's usually not too hard to spot a bunch of priests on an evening out. It's also not uncommon to spot groups of three (2 men, one woman) and with a little observation figure out that it's a married couple taking a priest-friend out for a meal.
Now that the synod is on, it's a case of spot the incognito bishops. It's rarely very difficult - the little groups of grey-haired men in cheap suits (no ties, and horror of horrors sometimes shirts buttoned up to the collar) are quickly identified. Last night, however, one group made it too easy. The fact that one had forgotten to leave his (super-sized!) pectoral cross at home spoiled all chance of anonymity for his colleagues.

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