Vatican City—Commissioner Gordon of Gotham City is “outraged by the audacity of the Pope and his minions.” Initially, the Commissioner was not surprised Batman ignored their city’s cries for help. “We just thought he fell off the Batwagon again,” said Gordon. “He self medicates, you know. The dude has issues. But now we find out he’s responding to problems all the way in Italy?”

The Pope is denying a series of clandestine meetings occurred between his Holiness and the caped crusader. Vatican officials are also denying rumors the Pope had a Bat Phone installed in his chambers. The Vatican released a statement earlier today, calling the rumors “Bat shit crazy” and “His Holiness doesn’t even own a cell phone, let alone a Bat Phone.”

An unnamed whistle-blowing Cardinal told reporters, the Pope believes, “We need to restore the Knights Templar. And who better than the Dark Knight himself to lead our new crusades into the 21^st Century?”

“Batman is a vigilante,” said the Pope. “His methods are dubious. We need a beacon of light, not an archetype of darkness.”

When asked about the giant bat signal seen over the Tower of Passetto, the Pope said, “It’s a grail shaped beacon…like in that Monty Python movie. Jesus Christ, would you people drop this shit already?”

The Passetto acts as a secret passage from Italy into the Vatican—the perfect meeting place for the Pope and Batman to hatch their evil plots. If the Vatican is resurrecting the Knights Templar, perhaps they are enlisting the aid of all of our fictional superheroes. If the Pope recruited Aquaman, for instance, he would have armies of undersea creatures at his command! And who’s to say Wonder Woman’s invisible plane isn’t parked outside the Passetto, right now?