by Nora Jay

“Pope Francis has taken aim at adjectives while giving his views on language to the Vatican communications team, saying: ‘I am allergic to those words’. … [T]he pope took particular aim at the word ‘authentic,’ especially when describing ‘authentic Christians’. ‘We have fallen into the culture of adjectives and adverbs, and we have forgotten the strength of nouns … Why say authentically Christian? It is Christian!’”
—The Guardian

With all the sins the Pope forgives,
He draws the line at adjectives.
The faithful must endure his frowns
If they contaminate their nouns
With fillers like “authentic,” which
Provokes a papal rash, or itch.
“Why add,” he scolds the Vatican,
“‘Authentic’ to plain ‘Christian’?
We have forgotten more is less!
We’ve fallen,” snaps His [- – – -]ness.