Well, there goes Catholicism. The New York Post reports that legendary boxing promoter/racketeer Don King will meet with his holiness Pope Benedict XVI next week.

The papal meeting came about through Luca Messi, a super-middleweight King put in a big fight in Chicago two years ago… Messi has a brother who is a priest and who agreed to set up an audience with the pope. King is in Paris promoting Saturday's sold-out rematch of last year's dramatic slugfest at Madison Square Garden between O'Neil Bell and Jean-Marc Mormeck. Then, King will be honored at a festival in Bergamo, Italy, the Messi brothers' hometown, before his pilgrimage to Rome.

Let me make sure I have the timeline right: First, Don King — a guy who spent four years in prison for manslaughter and has a reputation for being the greedy bastard who ruined pro boxing — promotes his fighter who attacked his sparring partner with a hatchet. Then he gets honored at an Italian festival before meeting with the pope.

Hmmm… nope, nothing wrong there. Makes sense to me. I just hope he has time to stop by Westminster Abbey on the way back. It would be a shame if he had to be knighted via teleconference.