Second in our series of "Under-slapped European Politicians"

Apparently French Catholics didn't like President Sarkozy's efforts to drive the Roma out of France. He responded to seeking an audience with His Popiness,* hoping that the voters would pay more attention to gestures of piety than to his policies and actions, and who am I to say he's wrong?

A reliable source** informs us that Sarkozy went to Rome on his own because Pope Ratzinger did not wish to be seen in the company of his scarlet woman of a wife.

Now in my day, if we wanted to meet the pope and show our repentance for misdeeds, we had to trudge barefoot across the Alps through the snow to Canossa Fortress, uphill both ways, and then grovel outside the gate for three days. If we were lucky. And we liked it. Also, hair shirts.

Kids today have it easy, acting like they've got it rough when they have to leave the wife at home. But try telling them that and they don't believe you.

* The French place a deal of emphasis on being a secular nation, and Sarkozy likes to cite that secularity as a reason why tokens of religion should be banned especially if they involve wearing veils, but he also likes to talk about "a 'positive secularism' that recognises the value of religion".

** I.e. a story in Le Canard Enchaîné, picked up and taken seriously by the Daily Torygraph.

UPDATE: Bonus What-it-was-like-in-our-day

Back in Elizabeth of Hungary's day, we had to take off all our clothes and give all our money to the church just to get the approval of a confessor.

But you try telling that to kids today.