Father Nicholas is having his mother come to visit.

She suffers from angina, and Father Nicholas is very protective of her. She however is more interested in a burly Popetown guard, or more exactly, passionate activities with a burly guard that will either raise her heart-rate, or bring her heart to a complete stop.

Owing to a crisis with the accounts, Popetown is having to cut back on spending, so the Pope's expensive rugs are replaced with cheap carpets... with the unexpected result that Pope develops a dangerous electric charge when he rides his bike across the rugs.

Pope loves these new 'superpowers', but everyone else finds the effects 'shocking'.