Caroline Kennedy was speaking recently as part of the Distinguished Speakers Series of Southern California. And she told them that she and Maria Shriver were chatting. My goodness, imagine being a fly on the wall for that convo. Something tells me there’d be a very bored suicidal fly thudding to the floor screeching “Make it stop.”

But Caroline “y’know” Kennedy said she and Maria decided they would be like y’know awesome Popes and stuff.

According to Cal-Catholic:

Speaking in Pasadena, on the evening of Ash Wednesday, she wore a faint smudge on her forehead. “These are the most indelible ashes I’ve ever gotten,” she said with a smile. “This is my first time to get ashes in California and I can’t believe you just drive by, hop out, get the ashes and get back in the car.”

When asked about her Catholic faith, she said, “It has given me strength and support, but certainly there are things that are difficult, upsetting and sad about the church today.”

On a lighter note, she said she had spent the afternoon with her cousin Maria Shriver. “We think either of us would make a good Pope.”

Mind you, this is the same Caroline Kennedy that chatted up abortion in her Democratic National Convention speech last year while promoting her faith.

She said, “As a Catholic woman, I take reproductive health seriously, and today, it is under attack. This year alone, more than a dozen states have passed more than 40 restrictions on women’s access to reproductive health care. That’s not the kind of future I want for my daughters or your daughters. Now isn’t the time to roll back the rights we were winning when my father was president. Now is the time to move this country forward.”

You might also remember Shriver in 2008 while wearing a rosary around her neck actually called herself a “Cafeteria Catholic.”

“I start every one of my days praying. I go to church every week. I went to Catholic schools my entire life.”

But then she said, “I pick and choose… I think I’m probably a ‘Cafeteria Catholic.'”

Here’s my thinking – if you think that the next Pope should be not at all like previous Popes and more like, y’know…you, you’re probably likely going to be very disappointed. At least I hope so.

*subhead*Pope Maria?*subhead*