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"Pope meets the Messiah" is among captions suggested for this photo from L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.
How could this mirth magnet not become a thing, right?
You needn't be a University of Michigan football fan to see Wednesday's photo from the Vatican as a "caption me" gift delivered on a silver platter. It shows Coach Jim Harbaugh presenting a maize and blue helmet to Pope Francis. (Harbaugh and his team are on a cultural exchange visit to Rome.)
One even could call it an answered prayer, a chance for nonpolitical humor that teases a person and place some consider sacrosanct. (No, not the pope and Vatican.)
Online wags react as if divinely inspired:
► "Isn't this how 'The Da Vinci Code' started? . . . Your move, Urban Meyer." -- Sports Illustrated
Jim Harbaugh giving the Pope a Michigan helmet is perhaps the greatest troll of Notre Dame ever.
— Ryan Nanni (@celebrityhottub) April 26, 2017
► "Was the Pope kneeling when he kissed Harbaugh's ring?" -- Cheri Espinoza
► "End of days -- one of the seven signs of the apocalypse!" -- Bill Haller, Deadline Detroit reader
@celebrityhottub Has anybody made the "Hail Mary" joke yet?
— Jack Shafer (@jackshafer) April 26, 2017
► "I thought Jim Harbaugh was the pope." -- Ian Thibodeau and (separately) George Hunter, Detroit News reporters
► "Meanwhile, Urban Meyer was busy today concluding his deal with Devil to secure OSU's next championship." -- Dale Anderson
► "Isn't the Pope required to root for Notre Dame?" -- Thomas Tryban, Wayne State University
@DeadlineDetroit @CoachJim4UM @LOsservatoreUSA "Gee I thought it would be a Spartan helmet. Green go better with my Whites"
— Charles Hallman (@chjournalist) April 26, 2017
► "Headline: Pope meets the Messiah." -- John Parker
► "It only means anything if the Pope showed him how to stop Ohio States offense" -- William Constabile
► "Not asking you to renounce anything, just accept another." -- Alex Glatter
► "Mitre with a capital M." -- Rebecca Powers, Birmingham
► "This absolutely makes me laugh out loud." -- Kristin Duus, Grosse Pointe Woods,
► "Harbaugh meets Pope. Very appropriate, both think they talk directly to God." -- Daniel Farr
► "I heard he asked the Pope to put a pox on Ohio State." -- Den Kurash, Cleveland
► "I'm just disappointed the Pope didn't put the helmet on." -- Kelley L. Guthrie, Grosse Pointe
Jim Harbaugh tweets this photo taken by a member of the Ann Arbor group touring Rome this week on a goodwill visit promoting the University of Michigan.
