In an interview for UGO, Seth MacFarlane commented that he felt this episode was one of the edgiest episodes that the show had produced at the time. In reference to the season 3 episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein", which was originally not broadcast on the Fox network because the producers thought it would be too offensive, MacFarlane said that "The episode we did with the Pope, I think, was a lot more offensive to Catholics than the Weinstein was to Jews. I think more of it had to do with internal politics".