#and benitez would try to make lawrence proud

[chillentertainer]

i firmly believe that if vincent benitez died, lawrence would follow so quick it wouldn't even be funny. like he gets the call and as soon as the words register, *boom* -> that was his heart giving out

and if lawrence died first, benitez wouldn't die immediately. but a part of his heart sure did. and he'd carry on with his papal duties for as long as he could, but he'd never be the same as he was before lawrence's passing

[darthstitch]

Random Filo Vincent Benitez Headcanons

(Yung mabawi ko lang ang Langit Points ko pls lang juskolowrd 😭😭😭)

1. One of the turtles in the pond is named Pong Pagong. The only other person who can differentiate little Pong from all the other turtles who now bear Renaissance artist names, aside from His Holiness, is Dean Cardinal Lawrence.

2. Sister Agnes is the one who first referred to the poor Dean as a "perpetually exhausted pigeon." That being said, all the Sisters keep an eye on him and there is a Not So Secret Conspiracy, led by His Holiness himself, to make sure the Dean eats enough.

(Obviously, it is Cardinal Bellini who notices that said Dean is putting on a healthy bit of weight.)

3. The Pinoy Mafia, obviously, was absolutely THRILLED to have a Pinoy Pope at last. Notable Pinoy dishes start apppearing in the Vatican kitchen menu. Sister Maria Lourdes who got "Papa Enteng" to beam with delight after trying her Bicol Express, was walking on air for days.

4. Sister Agnes would have normally been horrified to see the Holy Father puttering about in her kitchens but as the arroz caldo he was cooking was for a sick Dean Lawrence, she let it go.

Also, that was very good arroz caldo. Instant addition to the kitchen menu.

5. OBVIOUSLY His Holiness was delighted to bless the opening of a Jollibee near Vatican City. The video and pic of Jollibee himself doing a respectful "mano po" to Santo Papa Enteng broke Pinoy socmed.

6. Arroz caldo was not the last thing His Holiness cooked in the Vatican kitchens. His mischievous rendering of a Pinoy "carbonara" gave the Italian Curia collective apoplexy.

The Dean was amused but he actually liked the bacon and mushrooms.

Cardinal Bellini was in despair over his friend's hopeless "English palate." But Bellini himself did ask for seconds.

("Sinasabi ko nga sa inyo masarap eh," was His Holiness' amused comment. None of the Pinoy clergy wanted to explain what he meant to the non Tagalog speakers.)

7. No one wants to come forward and admit WHO filmed Cardinal Tedesco's reaction to Pinoy spaghetti, as cooked by the Holy Father, and uploaded it to Tiktok.

(It is widely suspected that it was the cheery, talkative, mischief-loving Cardinal from Manila who was responsible but no one wants to give him up anyway. Plus, he was a solid Papa Enteng supporter since Day 1 of the Conclave. He also famously did not get on with the Patriarch of Venice.)

8. Look, Pope Innocent was only going to get away with speaking Tagalog and not being understood by his polyglot Dean for so long. The first time he was surprised by his Dean showing off his newfound fluency was during the Holy Father's first visit to the Philippines.

(There was absolutely NO CRIME or other forms of violence in that country for the entire two weeks His Holiness was there. Filipino Catholics adored their Papa Enteng, no question. The mass attendance at Luneta alone broke the records set by the previous Popes.)

9. One favorite moment was when the Pope quietly slipped away to visit a shelter for street children and spent a precious couple of hours with them. There was a storytelling session too.

When the news media was able to interview one of the adorable little babbus who had sat on Santo Papa Enteng's lap during storytime, the little one blurted out that Papa Enteng told them all about the good Pong Pagong and his adventures in the Vatican, along with his good friend Kiko Matsing.

10. Papa Enteng, like about 95% of his countrymen, had a good singing voice. He made the country proud by singing a verse from "Bayan Ko" - and sent certain highly placed government officials sweating nervously.