Editor’s Note: To the English speaking mind an affirmation is always an affirmation. But in Italy, when you affirm something no one is denying, then you are in fact admitting things are not as they seem, and admitting that the opposite is true. There are several loud protestations of Pope Francis’ health today, this one from 9 minutes ago. What does it mean? The Italians will tell you to doubt.

It’s like what would happen on vacation to Sicily, when you came to a fancy Pizza Restaurant, which ran out of wood. You would order your pizza, and when it was very much delayed, ask the Waiter, if any pizza is coming at all; and he would most assuredly say, “Or course, just be patient. Our Pizza Oven is in tip-top shape”, to indicate that they have no wood or no dough prepared. — I am not making this up. It has happened to me, when a benefactor insisted we eat out.

So along with this chipper and dandy news about Pope Francis’ health, I cannot not recall when, on the Wednesday before Pope Benedict XVI died, they said he was had only a minor problem and was on his way to recovery.