MADRID: Pope Leo XIV has taken the unusual step of issuing his second  encyclical in a week.

Last week the Pope released the first encyclical letter of his reign, Magnifica Humanitas, warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence.

He followed it up at the weekend on a visit to Spain with a second encyclical on the state of global politics.

Vatican observers said such a rapid-fire release of papal encyclical letters was highly unusual and showed Leo XIV was concerned about the direction humanity was taking.

Delivering his latest message, Pope Leo urged the world’s political leaders to avoid deliberately divisive political tactics, the employment of “sterile simplifications” to gain popularity, and urged them to listen to the world’s cries for peace.

A Vatican spokesperson denied the message was targeted at US President Donald Trump.

“Nothing like that should be read into the Pope’s exhortations,” the spokesperson said while confirming that the title of the latest encyclical, Cunnus Aurantiacus Morbide Obesus, translated to morbidly obese orange cunt.

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Moves are afoot in Canberra for a second landmark national apology akin to former prime minister Kevin Rudd’s apology to the stolen generations of indigenous children.

In February 2008 Mr Rudd delivered the apology in the Australian parliament and expressed sorrow on behalf of the nation for the past policies inflicting the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.

Discussions are now under way between the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery for a second national apology.

“I can confirm we are negotiating with the press gallery for one of its members to stand up, probably in the Great Hall of Parliament House, to issue an apology,” a PMO spokesperson said.

“The gallery has come under enormous pressure recently to issue an apology for its past, frequent, and unquestioned use of the term ‘Australia’s greatest retail politician’ whenever any of its members wrote a story about Barnaby Joyce. (below)

“Events of the past week confirm what everyone else knew all along, namely that Barnaby is just a bombastic, self-promoting, vacuous, loudmouth prone to uttering tortured metaphors and falling pissed off footpath planter boxes.

“The gallery now recognises that the time is long overdue for it to apologise to the nation for the disservice it has given to the nation for elevating Barnaby beyond the fourth, maybe fifth or even sixth-rate thickhead yobbo he’s always been, the spokesperson said.

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Australian Greens’ Senator David Shoebridge says he is pleased to have secured a world record during his appearance today on ABC TV’s Insiders political discussion program.

Senator Shoebridge (below) said he had been contacted by the Guinness World Records organisation to confirm that he had set a new record by delivering one interruption-free answer lasting 17 seconds while being interviewed by the host of Insiders, David Speers.

“I’m happy to have set a new record which I hope will stand for some time,” the NSW Senator said. “But in all seriousness, I’m not sure it will.”

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