Pope Francis is in trouble for commenting that Scotch whisky is “the real water of life” during a visit to Rome’s Scots College last year that was recently censored out of a documentary that aired last weekend.

Director Tony Kearney followed the Scots seminarians over 18 months in 2018 and 2019. When taken in context, the comment isn't half as offensive as it might be to some. The Pope is widely known to love whisky and when one of the students handed him a bottle of whisky in the Apostolic Palace, according to Kearney, “He was really down to earth with them all and instead of just handing it to his assistant as he normally would with a gift, he held it up and said ‘Questa e la vera acqua santa’, which means ‘This is the real holy water.’" Apparently, the pope “guffawed with laughter and it was a real ice-breaker with the students and put everyone at ease.”

The Vatican’s media office cut the part where he says his now-infamous quip from the documentary, on the understanding that they don't want the pope to be seen as endorsing whisky, despite his well-known penchant for the water of life. The pope has even been gifted whisky by Queen Elizabeth II in the past.

In fact, the Vatican City consumes more wine per-capita than any other country in the world, according to The Drinks Business. The Pope has declared that wine is essential to a celebration, saying, “How is it possible to celebrate the wedding and have a party if you lack what the prophets indicated was a typical element of the messianic banquet? Wine is necessary for the feast.”

While protecting the Pope's image is doubtless important, we are pretty confident that if his comment was going to have any impact on this community, it would only serve to win us over!