So the pope dropped the f…. word in Italian during a speech in the Vatican on Sunday.

No doubt it will make him even more popular, though it was a simple slip of the tongue.

Long as he didn’t follow up with “Oh Jesus I said f…” as the old clerical joke goes.

One can’t imagine his predecessor Pope Benedict doing the same.

He seemed like a guy who would immediately wash his mouth out like the saint he thinks he is.

Not so sure about this pope.

I’m sure it is not the first time Francis has let loose with an expletive.

He might swear like a washerwoman for all we know. “Where’s that f… sermon I just wrote.” …or stuff like that.

He’s a hot-blooded South American, the kind that lets loose emotionally.

Benedict on the other hand would never let that Teutonic mask slip.

The Polish pope John Paul II was probably capable of an F-bomb or two. He seemed like the lively sort, especially in the early part of his papacy.

Francis is a man of the world. He used to take the bus when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires. He was known to hang out with buddies, even have a glass or two.

Rumor now has it, he sneaks out at night from the Vatican to see how the other half lives.

Maybe he curses at cab drivers when they overcharge him on those secret  visits.

Maybe he swears at everybody he meets to let the tension out when he goes incognito, if indeed he does.

It’s not easy being pope and it is easy to see how a swear word might escape, given the tension of the job.

Besides it will only make him more popular.

Long as it doesn’t catch on with the clergy. Like the guy who announces the new pope from St.Peter’s saying, “Habemus f…n Papem.”

Then it will have gone too far.