Riding With The Pope


               The  Pope's special  airplane lands  and  he is  immediately
          escorted to a waiting limousine and whisked away.

               As he is  riding alone in the  back of the limo,  he says to
          the driver, "I have never driven a  car such as this before; they
          won't let me drive you know?"

               "No,  Your Holiness,"  the driver replies,  "I did  not know
          that."

               "You wouldn't mind letting me drive  for awhile, would you?"
          the Pope asks.

               "Oh, no, sir," the driver replies.  "If you want to drive, I
          would be honored."

               The limo stops and the two men quickly exchange places.

               At first, the Pope drives  slowly, being unfamiliar with the
          controls,  but  eventually  feels more  confident  and  begins to
          speed.

               At 100 miles  per hour, A  highway patrolman, with  flashing
          lights and blaring siren,  finally gets the Pope to pull over. As
          he walks  back to  the beautiful  limo, the  Pope winds  down his
          window and says, "I'm terribly  sorry officer. I just got carried
          away with this lovely vehicle."

               The  officer,  recognizing the  Pope for  who he  was, said,
          "Excuse  me  Your Holiness.  I  am  going  to  have to  radio  my
          supervisor to find out exactly how we should handle this."

               The Pope said he  would be happy  to wait and the  patrolman
          walks back to his car and got his supervisor on the radio. "Sir,"
          he says, "I've got a problem here."

               "Well, what is it, John."

               "Well, sir,"  the officer says  hesitantly, "I  have a  very
          important person I  just pulled over and I don't know exactly how
          to handle the situation."

               "Well, who is he?" the supervisor asks, "The Mayor?"

               "No, sir," the officer quickly replies, "He's not the Mayor;
          he's more important than that."

               "Well, then," is he the Governor?"

               "No,  sir," the officer  answers, "He's more  important than
          that."

               "Well, then, John, if he isn't the Mayor or the Governor, is
          he a U S Senator?"
               "No,  sir,"  the  officer replies,  "he's  much  higher than
          that."

               "Well, then, John, for crying out loud," the supervisor says
          in frustration, "Is he the President of the United States?"

               The officer keys his microphone and says, "No, sir, he's not
          but whoever he  is, he's got the  Pope driving Him around  as his
          chauffeur."