The irony was too much: When Pope Francis and two children released two white "peace doves" at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City on Sunday, the doves were immediately attacked by other birds, losing feathers and being driven away as a huge crowd watched.

Thus, tens of thousands of Tweets and Facebook posts were launched, some of which used words such as "demonic," "omen," and "apocalypse"—and inevitably, of course, referring to "angry birds." What really happened there?