Homer Simpson Gets Thumbs Up from The Vatican

NEW YORK (CBS) Homer Simpson is a good Catholic. Just ask The Vatican.

The cartoon series is being applauded by the Vatican's daily paper for exploring a plethora of modern family issues and its patriarch father Homer for being a good example of a Catholic, according to published reports.

According to London's Telegraph newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's daily broadsheet, said the long-running cartoon series explores issues such as family, community, education and religion in a way that few other popular television programs can match.

Sure, Homer Simpson and his family usually attend the Western Branch of American Reform "Presbylutheranism" church with Reverend Timothy Lovejoy at its helm. But the Vatican paper cites an analysis by a Jesuit priest, Father Francesco Occhetta, who says a 2005 episode shows Homer and Bart converting to Catholicism.

"Few people know it, and he does everything he can to hide it, but it is true: Homer J. Simpson is a Catholic," the Vatican paper says.