Maltese Mayor Worried Pope Will Be Offended By Penis Sculpture

So, the pope is going to visit a town in Malta this weekend. In that town, there’s a sculpture that might be described as, well, phallic. Let's say, it looks more like a penis than the Washington Monument, but less than this eight-foot sculpture an MTV crew built last month. In a really productive use of everyone’s time and energy, the mayor of the town is calling for the "vulgar" and "embarrassing" statue to be taken down, lest it offend the fragile pope.

For the record, the artist says the piece (which has been there for a few years) is not phallic, but “a modern representation of a symbol dating back to ancient Egypt.” Yeah, that symbol is the penis.

But the real lesson here is more political than anatomical. Hey, minor public officials! If you don’t make a fuss about things like this, no one will notice them. I’m sure the Catholic Church appreciates your concern, but right now, they’d probably prefer if you didn’t call attention to their inability to deal with genitalia.