The Pope drops in on Britain after almost three decades (what, no flights from Rome to London?), but the visit was marred by controversy from the beginning. Just before the trip, a senior cardinal outraged Londoners’ sentiments by telling a German magazine: “When you land at Heathrow you think at times you have landed in a Third World country.” Needless to say, he came down with a mysterious illness and was promptly dropped from the entourage.

Was the cardinal treated rather harshly? The staff at the Journal, after having done some investigative work, have discovered that the cardinal had really meant to say, “Heathrow is worse than a Third World country!”

Why?

Because when the cardinal lands in a Third World country, he gets free water at a water fountain within the airport. Unlike in Heathrow, where the capitalist zeal has led to the elimination of such basic amenities, leading harried passengers to shell out five bucks (or more) to buy bottled water at Mark & Spencer’s. If only, the cardinal might have added, Heathrow was more like a Third World country’s airport!