Video: LA Archdiocese's simply awful welcome video for Pope Benedict

As the third installment (part 1 - part 2) of my series in which I watch and rate the various "Welcome Pope Benedict" videos being produced by American dioceses, I give you a real humdinger. This isn't a joke.

Not surprisingly, it's the Archdiocese of Los Angeles that has managed to produce a welcoming video not only worse than every other one I've already seen, but laughably bad in comparison. This video, moreover, will be played on the big screens at Nationals Stadium in DC before the Papal Mass, along with the rest.

I've embedded the video below, the original is on the Arch of LA website here.



Here's a transcript of the video:

From it's humble beginnings at La Placita church, to the Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles' vibrant catholic community [not church!] looks to the future while paying tribute to her past.

Los Angeles has celebrated the blessing of the animals since 1930. A cow traditionally has the place of honor at the head of the parade. She's followed by cats, dogs, turtles, snakes, and a host of other animals.

"Los Angelinos" send their best wishes to his holiness, Pope Benedict the 16th.

(people welcome the Holy Father)

Los Angeles [not the Archdiocese], welcomes you, Pope Benedict, to America.

Yes, you read and watch right: the entire video is about the once-a-year blessing of the animals. And of even that, it's mostly about the animals (and Cardinal Mahony, blithely throwing water at everything in sight).

Truly if these videos say anything about the dioceses that produced them, I hope this is the low point.

I'm going to refrain from laying out exactly all the reasons I find this video inadequate, and let you chime in.

Rating: 1/10 (it mentions the Pope).

update: Curt Jester reveals, in his humerous way, why this was probably the safest thing they could do.