Pope: Irony Is Dead

Or at least, deadening. "We know that the persecutor does not always assume the violent and macabre countenance of the oppressor, but often is pleased to isolate the righteous with mockery and irony," says the Pontiff. Sarcasm is no different from King Nebuchadnezzar's burning of three young Israelites in the fiery furnace, adds John Paul II, whose palace guards are trained to keep straight faces while wearing blue and yellow bloomers.