Friday, April 22, 2005 AD

This is quite impressive

Google now records 1,610,000 hits for "pope benedict XVI", a search string that didn't exist until last Tuesday (2,240,000 for just "benedict XVI").

That compares with 1,620,000 hits for the string "Archbishop of Canterbury", an office that has been in existence since AD 597.

It just goes to demonstrate the immense power of an international institution that provokes ferocious loyalty from its countless millions of adherents. But enough about Google...