Happy birthday, holy father

Pope Benedict XVI turned 83 on Friday, and despite the Vatican not officially recognising papal birthdays, a US fundraising group managed to rustle up some white chocolate and strawberries for a birthday cake.

The Papal Foundation even sang him Happy Birthday in English after presenting him with the modest ‘Happy Birthday Holy Father’ cake (above), which seems to reflect how feelings toward the Pope have changed since he took over in May 2005.

On his first birthday in office in 2006, for instance, the youth of Opus Dei gave him a chocolate piano cake. Not a bad effort for kids who are going to grow up to realise they’re committed to celibacy, penance and corporal mortification.

Then in 2007, a group of proud chefs took papal birthday cakes to a whole new level with the St Peter’s Cake, below. (It was his 80th, after all).

The following year the Pope partied at the White House, where George Bush presented him with a four-tiered masterpiece, below, which looks like it was destined for an upper-crust DC wedding until someone told Dubya that the Pope was in town. Judging by the Pope’s face, though, he didn’t seem to mind.

Sure, the guy’s got more pressing issues on his mind than birthday cakes (such as dealing with the ‘wounded sinner’ that is the Catholic church), but it’s quite clear that 2010’s offering was pretty disappointing. They didn’t even cut the stems from the strawberries!

On a different note, did you know the Pope’s an accomplished pianist? He’s generally into the classics, except for this short lesson below:

All photos from AP via the Huffpost.