Pope given last rites

[Boris Godunov]

A Vatican official told the crowd assembled in St. Peter's square that they did not expect the pope to live through the night.

[Sava]

this is terrible, I can't turn on the ****ing news because all I see is POPEPOPEPOPEPOPE

okay, he's gonna die, tell us when he does, but this is a media circus for christsake!

[Winston]

It occurred to me earlier that the Catholic church could save itself a lot of future uncertainty, anguish and possibly even a crisis of leadership if it were to adopt a rule that Popes should resign at the age of 80.

It is already the rule that only Cardinals below 80 can participate in the conclave that elects a new Pope, so it would seem a natural next step to institute that the pontif step down if he lives to that age.

[Boris Godunov]

Better that than SCHIAVOSCHIAVOSCHIAVOSCHIAVO. At least the passing of the Pope is actually of significance to more people than just the immediate family.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Winston
It occurred to me earlier that the Catholic church could save itself a lot of future uncertainty, anguish and possibly even a crisis of leadership if it were to adopt a rule that Popes should resign at the age of 80.

That wouldn't be possible, considering the doctrine that the Pope is infallible. Having retired Popes running around, all of which were infallible, could lead to a far worse crisis for the Church.

Also, it's probably a good thing for the Church to have all this "uncertainty" happening. The Pope's passing is already a major spectacle, and soon the media will be devoting its coverage to the election of a new pope. It's a ton of free publicity and probably inspires people to take a much keener interest in the Church than they would otherwise.

[Winston]

Nonsense, anything's possible. How else would they ever change their stance on anything.

[DanS]

Leadership for the church isn't quite the same as leadership for a country. There really isn't too much that is time-sensitive enough to warrant such a neat succession plan.

[Winston]

You have a point there Dan, but one would think that one of the foremost concerns would be that the leader would at least be able to function as such.

Seen over time, medical progress/life sustaining techniques could eventually render any Pope unable to perform his duties most of the time.

[Chemical Ollie]

Finally!

[Asmodean]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
Finally!

Do you wish him ill?

Asmodean

[Chemical Ollie]

No, I wish him to stop suffering and meet St Peter

[Ben Kenobi]

Well, at least I'll get to say I was a member under Pope John Paul 2.

He'll be missed.

[Alexander's Horse]

That sounds a little strange.

[The Mad Monk]

I'm fairly sure he'll be missed.

[Agathon]

I heard on the radio that he died... but apparanlty cable news says he is still alive...

Vampirism?



Seriously, he's dead... he's not dead... bits of him are dead, but other bits aren't... this is what you get with 24/7 news media.