“Is he beat up about it? Yeah, of course he is,” said a Vatican City representative on deep background via Facebook Messenger early Tuesday morning.

“The game just didn’t go how he hoped. He was going to let it play out on the field, but when it got to 31-7 Ohio State, he thought he needed to intervene a little bit on the Fighting Irish’s behalf, so he started reciting ‘Hail Mary’s nonstop, and it almost worked. We were one non-press man coverage play away from having a really interesting ending,” our source said.

Did the Notre Dame defeat do anything to shake the pope’s faith in the almighty or the power of prayer? Not at all, said our source.

“He knows how this goes, he’s been around a long time. He’s seen so many wins and losses like this, not only in the church, but also on the gridiron. He has full belief that the Catholics will make it back and honor the big guy with a natty before too long,” our source concluded.

“He’s very excited about how this season has panned out. He doesn’t want to say, ‘I told ya so,’ but he had it on good authority that this was going to be a special one,” said a Vatican representative on deep background via Skype early on Friday morning.

“The last time the Irish won it all, the pope was just a bishop, so to be the first pope that presided over a natty, that’s something he would take great pride in.”

How did el jefe decide which piece of art would need to come down to make room? With deep introspection, our source said.

“His first instinct was Jesus, because we have so many of those hanging around, but he didn’t want to upset the big guy. Mary was out of the question, too sacred. Joe was a great guy, did a lot for this congregation, helped raise a kid that wasn’t even his with complete selflessness, but at the end of the day, he’s kind of like Catholicism’s sixth man. He comes off the bench, contributes a lot, but he’s not a super star, you know?” our source concluded.