You been served, punk-ass john Paul!
A 10-song playlist published on MySpace by the Vatican included some unusual tunes from the Pope’s listening library. In addition to three pieces from Pope Benedict XVI’s own Alma Mater album are selections from Dame Shirley Bassey, Fleet Foxes, Muse, and Tupac Shakur.

In other words, no
“I’m not going to answer that question. I am a Christian, and I don’t think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate.”—Canada’s minister of state for science and technology Gary Goodyear, responding to a question about whether he believes in evolution

Wallpaper
Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall took a large technological leap forward this year, when 25-year-old Jerusalem resident Alon Nil began accepting prayers from people around the world through his Twitter account. Nil prints out people’s prayers, rolls them into scrolls, and deposits them in the cracks of the wall.

Political dinosaur
“The Flintstones was not a documentary”—Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella, responding to Minister Goodyear’s refusal to answer a question about whether he believes in evolution

Sore winners
“The Club Hélvetique is an association of bad losers.”—Vice president of the Swiss People’s Party, Christoph Blocher, on a group of liberal Swiss intellectuals petitioning to reverse a recent ban on the construction of new minarets on mosques

Sanctum Santorum
“The phenomenon of Christian teens engaging in unprotected anal sex in order to preserve their virginities.”—The winning response to a request by sex columnist Dan Savage for readers to create a definition for the term saddlebacking. The contest was a response to the selection of conservative minister Rick Warren to give the invocation at Barack Obama’s inauguration in January

Who ya gonna call?
“I should have called the coroner and leave the supernatural to God.”—Christian sect leader Alan Bushey at his trial for hiding the corpse of a 90-year-old woman in a parishioner’s bathroom for two months. Bushey said that he believed God would bring the elderly woman back to life

Praying for dollars
“Religion should not be a subject for entertainment programs.”—Hamza Aktan, chairman of Turkey’s high board of religious affairs, objecting to a new Turkish game show in which a priest, a rabbi, a Muslim imam, and a Buddhist monk try to convert atheists to their religions

The metre-high club
“A girl has to hold on to a boy’s waist to ride in the back. Things can happen. You know what I mean.”—Islamic Hamas legislator Younis al-Astal, answering questions related to the banning of girls from riding behind men on motor scooters in the Gaza Strip