I have been within 20 feet of the Pope. He was leaving and his car went by about 6 AM. There must have been a million people in the courtyard. It was awesome and I am not Catholic. While it would not be illegal to make jokes about this Pope or any modern Pope it would be decidedly bad taste, the Pope is not someone to ridicule.
I can't get Dennis Miller out of my head. He said (when John Paul was pope) that every time he saw the pope with that tall, funny looking hat, it reminded him of a post hole digger. And he wanted to "grab the pope by his skinny pope legs, turn him upside down and work him like a post hole digger". It was a hilarious mental picture.
But the pope should be pitied as well - leading so many astray from the Truth with so much of the Roman Catholic doctrine that is seriously flawed and - for some of it - heretical.
Good works abound, but sound doctrine is more needful.