He said, 'We have a pope, a pizza pope!'

I had a weird (day) dream or I guess you could call it a thought experiment or perhaps, a premonition.  

I’m not sure what day it was, Thursday or Friday, but the white smoke came pouring out of the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel. Somehow my wife and I were there in Rome!

Hearing the growing excitement outside as the bells tolled, I told my wife, "I'm going to the piazza". She replied, "Yay, I'm hungry. Pizza sounds good". I said, "No, I'm not going to get pizza. I'm going to the piazza, Saint Peter's square."

We arrived and squezed into the crowd waiting for the announcement.

All the people in the piazza at Saint Peter’s stared up at the loggia, the balcony where the pope would be announced.

With great anticipation, the crowd started chanting spontaneously yet in unison, "The pizza is ready, pick up the pizza.”

Then I looked around and there were open pizza boxes scattered on the ground. People were eating pizza and dancing, everyone holding a slice of pizza in each hand.

When suddenly the curtains opened and the guy who announces the pope spoke into the microphone. Instead of the latin phrase, ‘Habemus Papam’ he said simply in english, "We have a pope, a pizza pope...

...Cardinal Pizzaballa!"

The crowd let out a deafening cheer and the applause stretched out for minutes. 

Finally, when they settled down, his regnal name was announced. “The Holy Father takes the name, John." 

Everyone started chanting, ’Papa John!, Papa John!’ and then Italian folk music started blaring from the speakers close by and the dancing ramped up. 

Out of nowhere someone came up to me and offered me more pizza, gesturing wildly with their hands and shouting loudly, 'Mangia, mangia!'.

This time I saw the name on the box: To my astonishment it said, 'Papa John’s Pizza, Better Ingredients Better Pizza'. 

I know God has a sense of humor but I'm not sure what to make of this. I mean it could happen. Right? One could dream.

Maybe I'm just hungry.

(For more about my favorite papabile, Cardinal Pizzaballa see here.)