Francis by Patrick J. Marrin for June 13, 2022

Good bye

Sounds like a long flight to Tahoe & a short boat trip.

That seemed a little abrupt.

Oh my, I didn’t see that coming. I didn’t expect Guido and Fredo to be Franciscans.

Guido? Fredo?

The actual Mafia aren’t good guys who come to help you.

I’m lost. Happy but lost.

I believe Guido and Fredo used to chase Gabby around a few years back – they were then involved in human trafficking and Gabby was hiding from from them when Leo met her for the first time. She eventually came to live with him and Pope John; Guido and Fredo were later reformed and became Franciscans.

Definitely NOT the personality for a Franciscan.

Who sent him in the first place!?

Br. Leo seems the only one sorry for Br. Fabio. Such a tender heart.

First, understand I am not Catholic, but I am disturbed this arc seems to have turned anti-Catholic. The arc began with Br. Fabio seemingly sent by someone w/more power than the Pope. Now, Br. Fabio is being removed from the Vatican by the Mafia operating w/in the Catholic Church, w/in the Franciscans. I hope I’m wrong, but don’t see how the arc can recover.

Boy, did I call that! The “boys” are “escorting” Br. Fabio EVER so gently!

Where’s the horses head?

I wonder why the Mafia Brothers have only 1 knot on their belts…

“Me and the Pope”… I see who got top billing there. Going back to anonymity and all he can think of is the name for a nonexistent tv show.

I guess the moral of the story is “pride goeth before a fall”.

This must be confusing for Catholics?

Two Franciscan monks? That reminds me of what happened to Mario Belli, a “bravo” in Samuel Shellabarger’s novel “Prine of Foxes”. He put on the grey robes of a Franciscan, too. It’s a good read, and was made into a movie with Tyrone Power and Orson Welles.

Thanks to Dusky Paws for putting continuity into this plot twist. Fredo and Guido are former Mafia members in Rome who were determind to track and retrieve Gabby, a high profile escapee from their trafficking operation. Gabby had gone AWOL and was a beggar among the columns near St. Peter’s when Pope Francis called her a “pillar of the church” many cartoons ago. Leo remembered this remark and brought Gabby to the pope. She was kidnapped in Africa and brough to Rome, but emerges as an important advisor to the pope on women, Islam and refugees. Last summer she was again targeted by the Mafia, and Leo offered himself as a hostage instead, but converted the two agents, who joined the Order as Brothers Guido and Fredo, bonafide novices who released Gabby, ending the threat. Brother Fabio was sent by the Franciscan provincial to replace Brother Leo with the assumption he could give the Order a higher public profile and attract vocations. The pope could not override Leo’s vow of obedience to stop this, but had confidence it would work out. Fabio managed to appear in public pushing the pope’s wheelchair and attracted media coverage and an offer to be a TV anchor. This went to his head and doomed his chances at being a humble papal assistant. The Franciscan provincial ordered him back to the Friary and sent his trusty novices Fredo and Guido to bring him home. This is only a comic strip, but I am grateful to readers for putting life into it, and the real Franciscans for not taking offense at anything relating tp Leo, who is still the star of the show, even if he doesn’t know it. Thanks.