The Penny-Pinching Conglomerate of PopeXII is a colossal, cultured nation, ruled by Achilles Fox with an even hand, and renowned for its state-planned economy, smutty television, and pith helmet sales. The hard-nosed, humorless population of 7.795 billion Contributors enjoy extensive civil freedoms, particularly in social issues, while business tends to be more regulated.

The medium-sized, liberal government juggles the competing demands of Education, Industry, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Wessex. The average income tax rate is 44.8%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Popian economy, worth a remarkable 1,360 trillion Dollars a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a slick, highly efficient, fairly diversified black market in Tourism, Information Technology, Arms Manufacturing, and Retail. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is an impressive 174,517 Dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Scoutmasters debate whether luxury log cabins defeat the purpose of camping, religious turf wars have caused frustrated police to pray for divine intervention, woke teenagers spontaneously burst into tears when thinking about the world's woes, and social networking sites have discussion groups devoted to planning terrorist attacks. Crime is almost non-existent. PopeXII's national animal is the Western Gorilla, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

PopeXII is ranked 13,150^th in the world and 6^th in Two for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 354.23 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.