The Pope, in case you were too obsessed by the future fortunes of Peter Costello to notice, has recently spent a little time in Sydney.

This was a fact duly noted by an ever-alert national media.

According to our weekly Media Monitors top 20, the Pontiff was top of the pops for media mentions, cruising to a grand total of 42,277 (which admittedly includes half a dozen from Lateline, but that’s little more than a minor irritant). Costello, by way of comparison, managed just 2,413 (and no Latelines).

We can therefore say that while he may be considered by some to be an outside chance of staging a second coming, he remains 40,000 headlines and a pair of red shoes short of unadulterated adulation that would see him elevated as the Liberal Party’s infallible representative on earth (a post currently held by Nick Minchin). Truth is, he ain’t that popular.