The Pope was leaving the church of Immaculate Heart of Mary, in a tremendous hurry and suddenly He starts frantically waving his arms and yelling "TAXI! TAXI!"

The cabdriver immediately swerves over to the curb and the Pope quickly jumps into the backseat.

"Take me to the Airport!" He cries. "My limousine broke down and I don’t have time to wait for them to fix it! I just have to make that last flight to Rome! Hurry!"

"You got it!" replies the "cabby". He hits the gas and they head down to the airport.

Unfortunately, they run into a bit of traffic and had to stop for several lights.

While they are waiting for the fourth red light to change to green, the Pope is getting more and more anxious. "Hurry! Hurry!" He pleads. "I’ve just got to make that plane!"

"Look, your pontiffship" replies the cabbie, "this is rush hour and we’ve run into some traffic. I’m going as fast as I can. If I ran a red light I’ll get a ticket. There’s nothing more that I can do!"

At the next light, the Pope becomes extremely agitated. Suddenly He gets an idea. "I’ll make you a deal", He says to the cabbie, "let me drive!"

"YOU "wanna" drive?" ask the incredulous cabdriver.

"Please!" replies the Pope. "This is the last flight, and I can’t miss it! You’ve got to let me drive!"

"How can I say no to you?" says the cabbie. He jumps out and gets into the backseat while the Pope gets out and slides into the front. As soon as He gets behind the wheel, it is "pedal to metal" time. With a loud screeching of tires, the Pope swiftly pulls out. He begins screaming sixty miles an hour through the city streets, dodging through the traffic, running red lights, and driving up on the sidewalks, and when He hits one hundred miles an hour a cop sees the cab fly by.

With the siren blaring and his lights flashing, the cop chases the cab for five miles before the Pope finally pulls over. The police car pulls up behind the stopped car and the cop jumps out. He walks quickly up to the driver’s side of the cab, and the Pope rolls down the window. The policeman looks in and sees him, then nervously says, "Wait right here. Don’t go away. I’ll be right back!"

He runs back to the squad car and calls his sergeant on the radio. "Sarge", he says, "I just pulled this guy over, and I’m not sure whether I should give him a ticket or not. I think he’s really important".

"Who is it?" asks the sergeant over the radio. "Is it the mayor?"

"No" says the cop, "I think he might be more important than that".

"Is it the governor?" the sergeant asks.

"No" replies the policeman. "I think he might be more important than THAT!"

"Well" says the sergeant impatiently, "who is it?"

"I don’t know" replies the policeman, "but the Pope is his driver!"