Religion/ Spirituality

Penn Jillette might just have the perfect buyers for his Las Vegas mansion and the new residents are all high ... in cholesterol.

The United Church of Bacon, a group of more than 12,000 religious skeptics and atheists has its collective eyes set on the 7,500 square foot pad. We're told they'll use the place for community meetings, weddings and for plain old, "having fun."

As for the home, which Jillette nicknamed "The Slammer," it sits on 8.5 acres and features a lap pool, catwalks connecting different wings of the house and even a fire pole from one level to the floor.

The church's central tenet is that bacon is real ... it's proven to exist. The church's money better be real too ... the home is listed at more than $2 million.

The Vatican is using the "smoked but didn't inhale" excuse when it comes to Pope Francis' meeting with anti-gay county clerk Kim Davis ... acknowledging their meeting but denying there was any exchange of support.

Davis, who was jailed for not granting same sex marriage licences in Kentucky, told reporters the Holy Father was in step with her stance, and told her to "stay strong."

Now the Vatican is saying the meet and greet between the Pontiff and Davis was so brief, the Pope never discussed the details of Davis' complex situation.

The Church of Scientology is firing back at accusations it had anything to do with Jim Carrey's girlfriend killing herself -- saying no one blames the Bible when a Christian commits suicide.

Cathriona White was reportedly very active in the Church of Scientology ... taking part in a program called the "Purification Rundown" -- a controversial drug and alcohol detox program combining exercise, medication, and sauna sessions.

But a Scientology spokeswoman tells TMZ any reports connecting White's death to the church are a "sad and reprehensible" way to exploit the tragedy of her death. She also calls it "outright bigotry" because it's "like saying a person who previously studied the Bible committed suicide."

Law enforcement sources tell us investigators will question church officials about Cathriona's involvement in the detox -- but at this point they strongly believe her death had nothing to do with Scientology.

Pizza can't solve all problems, not even for The Fat Jewish ... because he's turning to Spencer Pratt for spiritual guidance. No, you read that correctly.

The Instagram comedy curator and pizza fanatic arrived in L.A. Tuesday for a session with his new shaman and former 'Hills' star -- something our photog found hard to believe ... so he hopped the shuttle bus with FJ to get the story.

As we first reported, Pratt is shooting a new reality series, so it's most likely a stunt for the show, but still entertaining to watch.

And if Pratt's crap doesn't work ... Fat Jewish's vintage GWAR shirt should scare off plenty of demons. Just sayin'.

Pope Francis is finally copping to having a sit down with controversial Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis during his U.S. visit.

Davis' attorney went public about last week's meeting in Washington, DC on Tuesday night -- and Davis herself has talked about it Wednesday. The Vatican was slow to confirm the meeting, but finally told the NY Times it did happen.

Reporters -- who didn't know about the meeting at the time -- had asked the Pope last week what he thought about Davis' refusal to grant marriage licenses to same sex couples. The Pontiff said he didn't know her story, but generally supported someone's right to conscientiously object.

Kim says Pope Francis gave her rosaries and told her to stay strong. The Vatican refused to elaborate on what went down in the meeting.

The little girl who squeezed through a police barricade to hand the Pope a message about U.S. immigration ... is getting the Kardashian treatment, now that she's back in L.A.

Sophie Cruz and her dad were swarmed by photogs at LAX, arriving from Washington D.C. where earlier this week the 5-year-old became the poster child for America's immigration issues. She's a U.S. citizen, but her parents are illegal immigrants.

When she got an impromptu audience with the Pontiff, she handed him a drawing of herself with friends of different races and the note ... "My friends and I love each other no matter our skin color."

Sophie's become quite the spokeswoman for her cause. Check out how she addressed the crowd of scrambling photogs. We got in one question about Donald Trump to her dad. He's pretty smooth too with the media.

What does Pope Francis have to do to get you in a Fiat today? The answer is, not much -- just cruising D.C. in one is enough to drive in customers.

The Pope shocked everyone when he touched down in Washington on Tuesday by scooting around town in a black Fiat 500L ... apparently reppin' for Italy, and millions of people took notice.

Safford Fiat of Tyson's Corner -- the biggest dealer in the D.C. area -- has been slammed since the Pontiff arrived. General sales manager, Mark Cowdin, tells us customers are pouring in to learn more about his Excellency's whip.

Mark says they didn't get a heads-up from corporate about Francis' chauffeur-driven wheels, but they're scrambling to roll out "Papal Deals." He says the Pontiff's visit hasn't scored them a sale yet, but thinks that will change with all the interest and the slogan -- "If it's good enough for the Pope, it's good enough for you."

We were thinking, "Fiat. Holier than thou. Plus we don't lie about emissions!"

By the way, interesting that Fiat once hired Charlie Sheen to tout its cars. Guess they've covered both ends of the spectrum now.

Actor-turned-church-leader Andrew Keegan claims his reputation is ruined over Kombucha ... and he wants $33 mil to make it right.

Keegan got some bad press after his church -- Full Circle Venice -- was slapped for selling Kombucha to its members. Turns out the hippie elixir had enough alcohol so it couldn't be sold without a license. The California Dept. of Alcoholic Beverage Control raided the church and cited some of the members.

Here's what made Keegan irate ... Examiner.com reported he was arrested for the illegal sale of Kombucha. Keegan -- who became famous playing Joey in "10 Things I Hate About You" -- says he wasn't even there and was not arrested.

He says Examiner.com has a network reaching 20 million monthly readers and his name is now mud ... which is why he wants $33 mil.

Pope Francis has landed and America is losing its collective mind. Crowds gathered, babies got kissed and the Pontiff displayed his extreme Popemobile ... protective bubble NOT included!

Like we said, Francis is EXTREME!! And so cool.

The Dalai Lama is doubling down on his jaw-dropping comments about a woman eventually stepping into his shoes -- insisting she better be hot if she wants his gig.

TDL was talking to a BBC reporter about an interview he did years and years ago, where he said, "If a female Dalai Lama comes, their face should be very attractive."

Check out the new video -- the BBC reporter is clearly uncomfortable and thinks the Dalai's gotta be joking, but the Buddhist spiritual leader stood his ground ... and, believe it or not, probably made it worse.

Pope Francis just arrived in the not-so-holy land of Washington, D.C. and he's keeping it European and austere ... chauffeured in an Italian-made Fiat.

Francis touched down Tuesday afternoon at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland before heading to the Vatican Embassy. Sticking true to his nickname of "The People's Pope" .. the Fiat 500 starts right around $20k.

Fiat motors tweeted "#blessed."

Kind of blows the Jennifer Lopez Fiat commercial away, right?

Someone is out to kill Scientology honcho David Miscavige ... or so the guy vows, and it's triggered a big police investigation.

A man repeatedly called the main number for Scientology in Hollywood in July, making very direct threats:

"Tell David that we are going to kill him."

"We are going to assassinate Mr. Miscavige and every single one of you."

"You tell your leader, who is an a**hole and a motherf*****, he is going to be shot pretty soon."

We're told the operator kept the man on the phone during the last call for 2 hours and 55 minutes and got identifying information, including his Skype address.

Scientology forwarded the info to LAPD's Major Crimes Unit, which launched an investigation and executed a search warrant last month. The person the LAPD closed in on is a Jewish businessman.

12:45 PM PT -- Schilling just issued the following apology: "I understand and accept my suspension. 100% my fault. Bad choices have bad consequences and this was a bad decision in every way on my part."

11:40 AM PT -- ESPN has officially yanked Curt from his assignment covering the Little League World Series in the wake of his Twitter post.

The network issued a statement saying, "Curt’s tweet was completely unacceptable, and in no way represents our company’s perspective."

"We made that point very strongly to Curt and have removed him from his current Little League assignment pending further consideration."

Curt Schilling believes radical Muslims are as serious of a threat to the world as the Nazis -- and says the numbers prove it.

Justin Bieber awesomely took second seat to the pastor of his new-age church ... and it's so fun.

The Biebs and Pastor Joel Houston were leaving Hyde nightclub in Hollywood Friday night when our photog tried jawboning with Justin. But when J.B. wanted the pastor of Hillsong Church to get some face time, our photog obliged and the convo turned to surfing.

Sorry atheists ... NBA players who have a good relationship with God are more successful than NBA players who don't ... so says Detroit Pistons point guard Brandon Jennings.

Jennings was at LAX today when he told us religion plays a huge role in the NBA ... "Before every game we always have a little bible study ceremony ... any city you go to, so it's pretty cool."

That's not the case with every team -- Doc Rivers, in an effort to respect different beliefs, reportedly does not allow team prayer in the Clippers locker room ... though he does lead a moment of silence before games.

Rick Santorum is engaging in the time-honored political tradition of flip-flopping -- or so it sounded when we asked him about his beef with the Pope.

Our photog asked the ex-Senator and Republican candidate for prez ... about going on FOX News and calling out the Pope on climate change. Before we could get the full question out -- Santorum started gushing.

Check out the video ... Santorum's aggressive genuflecting makes you wonder if someone got a call from Vatican City.

Santorum also talks about an upcoming meeting with his Holiness. Suggested icebreaker for ya, Rick ... "How 'bout this weather we're having?"