church-science
Explanation
The Joke
The comic opens with a character pointing out a perceived hypocrisy: the Catholic Church criticizes science, but then asks why the Church does not use its vast wealth to bankroll its own research and development instead. The punchline is a mock newspaper headline reading "PAPAL NANO-SCIENTISTS MAKE ALL SEX ACTS LEAD TO PREGNANCY," imagining what kind of scientific research the Catholic Church would actually fund if it had its own R&D division. A woman in the final panel remarks that maybe it is best not to think about that option too hard.
The Humor
The joke works by taking a seemingly reasonable suggestion — that the Church should fund its own science — and following it to its logical, absurd conclusion. Given the Church's well-known stance on contraception and its teaching that sex should be open to procreation, the comic imagines that Church-funded nanotechnology would be deployed not to cure diseases or advance human knowledge, but to ensure that every sexual act results in pregnancy. The humor lies in the collision between cutting-edge technology (nanotechnology) and medieval-feeling moral enforcement, highlighting how scientific tools serve the priorities of whoever funds them.
References
The comic references the Catholic Church's historical tensions with scientific research as well as its doctrinal opposition to artificial contraception, most notably articulated in Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae.