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No MasToday we stay BIG PICTURE and do a TALE OF THE TAPE. But before I start, a hat tip to the always excellent Catholic blog run by Mundabor (see here) for the link to the source data.

Now back to the matter at hand. For those not familiar with professional boxing, before each fight there is a weigh in. At this weigh in, the pre-fight measurements are made of the combatants and this is commonly referred to as the TALE OF THE TAPE. By extension, statistics given to compare two people or entities are also known by this designation.

Given the above, your humble blogger has been making measurements of the last two individuals occupying the See of St. Peter, namely Benedict XVI and Francis. The measurements have been based on attendance figures at the various FRANCISEVENTS and analogous attendance figures at similar events during the reign of Pope Benedict XVI. These differences in attendance figures at the various FRANCISEVENTS as opposed to the analogous Benedict events has been labeled as one component of the REAL FRANCIS EFFECT. And these differences have been staggering to say the least. Here is how we concluded the Francis Effect Upgraded To Francis Disaster post (see here):

Please notice that the drop during the attendance at the Vespers with altar boys in 2015 was a whopping 82% {(9,000-50,000)/50,000= -82%}. In the post titled Only 9,000 Gather With Francis For Ash Wednesday’s Angelus, the number of attendance in the last year of Benedict XVI’s reign was given as: “A measly 50,000 Faithful showed up for B XVI last Ash Wednesday”. Again we see this proportion of Faithful attending Francis events versus Benedict events of 9,000 and 50,000 respectively. Therefore, the attendance figures for the Vespers event confirms the attendance figures for the Ash Wednesday Angelus. The further significance of these two independent and unrelated data points, data points that provide almost identical attendance figures and by extension the same proportions, is not without significance. What we could be dealing with here is a quantitative representation of the destruction that Francis has wrought on Catholic Church as an institution in just two short years of his reign.

This REAL FRANCIS EFFECT described above, has provided us with more proof in our assertion that the Francis pontificate is nothing more than a media creation by the leftist “c”atholic media and the wider main stream media. We have labeled this phenomenon as the Soap Bubble Papacy™.

In our post titled Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting, (see here) we set out our case that the number of individuals who demonstrated intent to go to the FRANCISEVENT (Pontifical Mass) in Philadelphia were rather low. Actually, these attendance projections fit into the general attendance figures of the FRANICSEVENTS in Rome and elsewhere.

In the post titled Cleaning the Slate, (see here) we explained how the MEDIA were having problems keeping the Soap Bubble Papacy™ inflated since Francis’ attendance figures have been so poor, and we wrote the following: (emphasis added)

If in turn, the Faithful do not start appearing at the Francis functions, like the one in Philadelphia, then the media, who have been anxious from the beginning to credit Francis for revolutions that never took place or for changes that came to be during his pontificate only thanks to the huge amount of work carried out during the previous pontificates, will not be able to maintain the current narrative.

And this is where we pick up today, since thanks to the Mundabor post, we have figures for Francis’ Philadelphia Pontifical Mass. And they are not pretty. Over at a blog whose name I will not mention (who are related to these folks here), but to which you can link back through Mundabor’s blog, a post appears with the following title:

Expert: Papal Mass Numbers Were Largely Exaggerated.

Oh my!

Here is how the post begins:

The original estimate of attendance at the Papal Mass was upwards of 1.5 million. Then, the number became a much smaller 1 million. During the broadcasts of the Papal Mass, the numbers floated around were about 800,000. So, how many people were there really?

And here is where one website, On Philly.com, in a post titled 800,000 at papal Mass? Better count again puts the figures (see here):

After adding up all those areas, equivalent to about 11 acres, Still came up with a total attendance in the range of 80,000 to 142,000 for the entire western end of the Parkway.

However, it would appear that even these numbers are a tad high, shall we say? Here is what is known with respect to the actual ticket distribution:

There were 80,000 tickets distributed for the ticketed area of the Parkway, and as I noted before, some people kept the tickets as a souvenir, rather than attending.

So through an elementary process of deduction, if 80,000 tickets were distributed and “some people kept the tickets as a souvenir, rather than attend” and in order to attend, one needed a ticket, then the logical assumption that can be drawn is that the actual figure of attendance at the Papal Mass was less than 80,000!

And now the obvious comparison. How do these figures relate to the last Benedict XVI trip to the US?

To get those figures, we have to look no further than to Wikipedia. (see here) Here are the relevant data points:

April 17 2008 (Washington)
The Pope celebrated Mass at the newly built Nationals Park in Washington, home to the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team. 46,000 people attended the Mass at the stadium, which has an official seating capacity of about 41,000. 200,000 requests for tickets, which were free, had been submitted prior to the mass.[7] Those in attendance included 14 cardinals, 250 bishops, and 1,300 priests.[8] The altar was set up in the outfield and live video of the Mass was shown on the scoreboard. In his homily, the Pope urged American Catholics to “foster healing and reconciliation” in the wake of the child sex abuse scandal.

and

April 20 2008 (New York)
The Pope said Mass to a crowd of nearly 60,000 at Yankee Stadium, home of the New York Yankees. Over 200,000 had requested tickets, which were free, for the event.[18] The New York Times said the crowd “roared with all the sustained excitement of spectators at a pennant-clinching game.”[19] The altar was set up on second base.[20] In his homily, he said the unwavering truth of the Catholic Church’s message guarantees respect for the dignity of all human life, “including the most defenseless of all human beings, the unborn child in the mother’s womb.”[21] The Mass marked the third time a Pope had visited the stadium, a record for any venue in the United States. (Pope Paul VI celebrated Mass at the stadium in 1965, and Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass there in 1979.[22]) MLB changed the Yankees schedule to accommodate the Mass, resulting in the Yankees playing 18 of their 20 games in April on the road, the most in one month in MLB history.[22]

Notice the difference?

Summa summarum, what we have here is just more data points confirming our thesis that the REAL FRANCIS EFFECT is creating problems for the MEDIA in their attempt to keep afloat the Soap Bubble Papacy™. What we see from the figures is that Francis generated approximately 40% (80,000/200,000) the interest in ticket requests as his predecessor. We also see the overestimation of crowd sizes by a whopping 1000% (800,000/80,000). Furthermore, with respect to actual attendance figures, these proportions MUST be more skewed in Benedict’s favor since not all the people who got Francis tickets showed up, yet Benedict’s events were filled to the rafters.

Literally.

We also see data points which demonstrate the popularity of Benedict XVI with respect to not only Francis, who is in the bush leagues in these comparisons, but with respect to JPII and Paul VI. And in this TALE OF THE TAPE, we see Benedict as the world champion with respect to drawing crowds. Once again, here is the relevant passage:

The Pope said Mass to a crowd of nearly 60,000 at Yankee Stadium, home of the New York Yankees. Over 200,000 had requested tickets, which were free, for the event. (…)The Mass marked the third time a Pope had visited the stadium, a record for any venue in the United States. (Pope Paul VI celebrated Mass at the stadium in 1965, and Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass there in 1979.[22]) MLB changed the Yankees schedule to accommodate the Mass, resulting in the Yankees playing 18 of their 20 games in April on the road, the most in one month in MLB history.[22]

And finally, how does the leftist blog whose figures we are using explain this dearth of people at the Philadelphia FRANCISEVENT:

Many attendees reported having a life-changing experience.

After all, Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered…” I think that it is safe to say that the criteria of Jesus was met.

One final thought. After writing the above, I am left wondering if this information in the last sentence is the real goal driving the Francis pontificate, i.e. that after he is done, only two or three will be gathered.

Literally!

Which brings me to the concluding thought, which is this: how long until the cardinal electors, like Roberto Duran in the picture above, tell Francis …

NO MAS!