Modernising the churchThe somewhat miraculous-in-itself takeover of the world by iPods comes one step closer to its fulfilment. The Pope, leader of however-many-million Roman Catholics throughout the world, now owns an iPod nano.

He popped down to visit the guys at Vatican Radio and, amongst other Vati-delights, was presented with a white iPod nano, engraved with the legend "To His Holiness, Benedict XVI". Their budget presumably not being full-to-bursting, he did have to settle for the cheap(er) 2GB one.

It is unknown at this stage whether his music collection will fit into the 500-song limit. What is known however is that it came preloaded with such classic iTracks as Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and of course multi-language editions of the Vatican Radio podcasts. There has been some speculation that this form of filesharing is just as illegal as the old-skool swapping Metallica tracks via Napster so it is possibly the case that the RIAA will be popping round for a swift visit and arrest.

Upon receiving the holy gift The Pope - previously famed for his former membership of the Hitler Youth - showed that, aged as he might be, he still has his finger on the pulse of society, allegedly remarking that "Computer technology is the future". The past sixty years of computer development clearly having passed him by, the Poorhouse is concerned that the Pope may not be technically minded enough to install and configure iTunes on the "magic holy glowing box" that may or may not be sitting on a computer desk somewhere in the papal residence and hence be stuck with the rather limited, and possibly illegal, content it came with.

If this turns out to be a valid concern, the Pope might like to wander over to London for a swift 40 minute (and £65) "iPod Survival" tutorial courtesy of Selfridges.

The picture accompanying this story was sacrilegiously stolen from tecnocracia.com