“Francis Effect”: How The Clowns Have Fallen!

The Pontiac Aztec. Yes, quite...

The news reaches us from several corners that Circus Bergoglio's stay in Philadelphia will not be greeted with enthusiasm by the masses so generously touched by his “mercy”. 3,000 hotel rooms still available out of a total availability of 11,200 is a pretty brutal number. Prices are being slashed accordingly, and extra freebies thrown in. And it's not only the hotel rooms, too. The outdoor mass has sold only 60,000 of the 175,000 expected tickets, I hope they'll start to give them away for free now. But to whom? 5,000 buses should have been registered. Up to now, only 1,100.

It reminds me of the sale of the Pontiac Aztec, a singularly ugly, but “innovative” car. It went on with some (limited) sales for a while, then people realised how horribly, horribly ugly the thing was. Some say the car destroyed the Pontiac brand alone. There's no doubt Francis would do the same with the Church if it were possible. Francis is the Pontiac Aztec of Pontificates. People are merely opening their eyes, and realising they have no time for such rubbish, even if it's “innovative” in some ugly way of his.

Please, please ladies and gentlemen: come to see Circus Bergoglio, in town for just a few days! Jump on your cars, buy that aeroplane ticket, cause an awful lot of co2 emissions! Francis will reward you by telling you how good you are, how bad the Church is, and how glorious life is in Catro's Cuba, where there is no throwaway culture, at all!

When hotel professionals tell you that it is more affordable to get a hotel room during a papal visit than during a large, citywide convention you know the Francis Effect is truly and well gone; and who knows if it was there in the first place, apart from the obvious curiosity for novelty. If a madmen starts freaking out in the middle of the street he will have watchers, too.

How the clowns have fallen! Soon the hoteliers of the next destinations will say to each other “oh, no! Not Francis! Wouldn't have been better to get a good agricultural machines fair?”

Alas, no agricultural machines fair. Francis is all you get.

You had better start slashing your prices now.

M