This video is making the rounds today and I wanted to preserve it here.

There’s so much to say. There’s the way we hear virtually nothing form JP2 (he lets his custom batting gloves do the talking), but instead see him connect on pitch after pitch, just Skrimshandering while his Pope buddies engage in a conversation about batting cage franchising. The practiced way his handlers respond to the question “What position does his Holiness like to play?” with, “Any position he wants.” The slap singles. The owner’s insistence that the Pope’s time is almost up. Oh, he hit a triple.

It’s the kind of treasure that surfaces regularly on the internet but for me it’s like the perfect Frederick Wiseman documentary: the leaders of creaky institutions caught in totally banal situations, brought into relief by the movement of the camera. Pope–moustache guy. Moustache guy–Pope. Perfect.