…but it only seems to confirm its irrelevance. In the wake of Michael Jackson’s death, the Vatican’s daily newspaper L’Osservatore Romano attempted a tribute to the pop music icon:

Vatican daily proclaims Michael Jackson immortal – for his fans

But will he really be dead? It wouldn’t be surprising if, in a few years, he was spotted in a gas station in Memphis, perhaps with his former father-in-law Elvis Presley, another of those myths – like Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix or John Lennon – that never die in the imagination of their fans. And Michael Jackson, who died yesterday at the age of fifty, is definitely a pop music legend.

I can think of many other more prevalent myths that never seem to die in the imagination of those who profess them. And, wouldn’t you know it, you can find plenty of those people filling up the Vatican!