Early Morning Pondering

I never know what odd things Facebook will cough up for my early morning consideration and, therefore, I don't know where my train of thought will go after viewing the image du jour. Perhaps the same is true for you.

So it's Mother's Day, and FB saw fit to show me a picture of Pope Leo as a very young boy with his mother. Okay, so far, so good. A nice shot of a lovely woman with three nicely-dressed little boys.

Which led me to the realization that once a person becomes Pope, we never see pictures of him wearing anything but his white papal uniform. 

Is he not allowed to wear anything else? Ever? Doesn't white after white after white get tiresome? Wouldn't he long for variety? Does he always have to be recognizable? Or are photographers forbidden from shooting him if he's in civilian clothing? Couldn't he wear a nice blue Oxford cloth shirt and a pair of khakis to go to the movies? What if he likes to spend his off-hours gardening -- wouldn't that white outfit get really dirty when he kneels down to plant some cucumber starts? Wouldn't that distress the nuns (or whoever) who manage his [boring, monochromatic] wardrobe? So many questions.

When I was eighteen, one night after work, some of the members of the typing pool went out to dinner at a now-defunct restaurant in Philadelphia called Tarellos, and then and there I learned the hard way that there are those of us who should never order spaghetti and meatballs if we are wearing a white blouse.  Going to an Italian restaurant? Wear red. Or black. Or stick with the Alfredo. The Pope lives in Italy; he soon will find himself tired of the carbonara, doncha think?

Okay. That's it for today. Please don't attempt to answer my questions. Rather, see where your train of thought might go. Mine's been off the track for at least a half an hour and I have to get ready for church.