Mistake Rocks Infallibility Doctrine

	The Pope behaved like a spoilt child

The Roman Catholic Church was rocked to its very foundations yesterday, when it emerged that His Holiness Pope John Paul II had made a mistake: an outright impossibility, according to the doctrine of papal infallibility.

"The Holy Father and a few of us cardinals were enjoying our weekly game of Trivial Pursuit in the Vatican bar," explained Cardinal Augusto Linguini, in Italian. "Ordinarily, we don't bother checking the Holy Father's answers: we just assume he's right. But, on this occasion, I was sure he'd got the answer wrong: he said Amy Johnson, but I knew damn well it was Amelia Earhart."

Earhart (right answer)
Johnson (wrong answer)

"At first, His Holiness wasn't having any it," said Cardinal Timothy O'Fagan, taking up the story. "He went into a complete tantrum, screaming that he was the bloody Pope, and so he had to be right.

"We showed him the answer on the back of the card, but he claimed it was a typing error. Then, when we suggested we look up the answer in Encyclopædia Britannica, he threatened to excommunicate us. He was behaving like a spoilt child.

"After a while, he seemed to realise that his position was untenable, so he switched tack, swearing that he'd said Amelia Earhart all along, and that we should get our ears tested."

"It just doesn't bear thinking about," confessed Cardinal Linguini. "It calls into question the very basis of everything you believe in. I mean, if the Holy Father can be wrong about something as trivial as who was the first woman to cross the Atlantic by air, what about his views on contraception, the resurrection, virgin birth, female priests, weeping statues, celibacy, and divine will? This cock-up has really let the cat out of the bag. Believe me, this one's going to run and run."

The Pope was unavailable for comment.