R. I. P. Pope John Paul II

[PigsnieLite]

The Pope lying in State.





Besides, if I didnt caption this photo, you would read So cute, you want to pinch his bottom.

[PigsnieLite]

Whut the Pope did in his Last Moments on Earth.


Don't weep for me
MATTHEW CAMPBELL, JOHN FOLLAIN, ROME, AND CHRISTOPHER MORGAN



... As the end approached, history's best travelled and third longest serving pontiff had urged his followers not to cry for him by dictating a message to his secretary.

"I am happy and you should be happy too," he said. "Do not weep. Let us pray together with joy."

His last moments were described early today by Father Jarek Cielecki, director of Vatican Service News, a Catholic TV channel. "The Holy Father died looking towards the window as he prayed, and that shows that in some way he was conscious," Cielecki said.

"A short while before dying, the Pope raised his right hand in a clear, although simply hinted at, gesture of blessing, as if he became aware of the crowd of faithful present in St Peter's Square, who in those moments were following the reciting of the Rosary," he added.

"Just after the prayer ended, the Pope made a huge effort and pronounced the word 'Amen'. A moment later, he died."

[PigsnieLite]

This is how faR THE QUEUE goes. It is very bad. Worse than on tellyvision. If this wuz how long I would haf had to queue, I wouldnt have done it. My bladder would fall apart.

[Avril]

What, no Portaloos?

[PigsnieLite]

If there were, I didnt see them. TOO MANY PEOPLE! Waaahhhh! And Msgr Lirette said that a lot of cafes were closed becuz people were ruining the toilets! I would hate to see whut the Roman sewers look like right now. Eeeek!

[Avril]

I wonder if one earns extra merit by being inconvenienced by one's faith?

[PigsnieLite]

And 2 million more inconvenient Poles will be going to Rome by Friday! Eeek!

Anyways, I am glad I am home. While it wuz nice to sit in that red-clothed pew section designated for clergies and assorted peculiar visitors (courtesy of surprisingly influential Msgr Lirette), it wuz slightly disconcerting to stare at a dead Pope for 30 minutes. He is much more shrivelled up & persimmon-like in person than on the telly. I also thought while looking at Our Holy Father, that he wasnt there anymore. I wuz looking at his Holy Shell. I did bring my leetle digital camera wid me to take some pics but Pigsnoot glared at me so that he scared me. Waahhh. So I didnt take pictures. I wore a navy blazer by the way, and Father Pigsnoot wore a black suit and prayed a lot. I just said One Our Father, ten Hail Marys, one Glory Be and recited my Litany of of Dead : my lost tsunami cousins, all the dead of the tsunami & Iraq & Afghanistan & Iran & Darfur, my grandparents and some uncles & aunts who died long ago.

PS. Msgr Lirette told me that it wuz quite possible that I could be declared POPE! becuz I am over 18, male and an unmarried Catholic. Whoopeee! Crossing my fingurs! :

[PigsnieLite]

COOL! Read this! From the Washington Posty!

The death of Pope John Paul II has unleashed an unprecedented global media outpouring. Preliminary numbers from the Global Language Monitor's daily Internet and media analysis suggest that in the 24 hours since the pontiff's death, there have been some 45,000 major news stories, and more than 4.4 million Internet citations. In comparison, for the entire preceding year there were only 28,000 major news stories and 1.5 million Internet citations about John Paul II.

"According to Paul J.J. Payack, President of The Global Language Monitor, 'The word historic is associated with the pontiff over 2,000,000 times, while conservative is associated some 500,000 times, and loved or beloved about 450,000 times in the first 48 hours since John Paul's passing.'" (And here we all thought we were being original!)

"By way of comparison, within the first 48 hours of the Pontiff's passing, there were:

"--More than two-and-a-half times as many global Web citations for John Paul than there were for Ronald Reagan, when he died in June of 2004;

"--Almost 3 times as many news stories for John Paul as there were for the 9/11 attacks in 2001;

"--Some ten times as many news stories as there were for the re-election of President Bush."

[PigsnieLite]

I must go to bed now becuz the FUneral starts in a few hours! Waaah, I can hardly wait to see all those milions and millions and millions of Catholics! There is something thrilling about watching all that Holiness. I can only compare it to the Indians bathing in the Ganges and those thousands of Moslems collecting in front of that huge Purple Tent in Mecca.

Night night, O Unholy Ones.

[Avril]

Gee, it's so good to know that holiness to you is watching hordes and hordes of devout hoi polloi pay their respects to their spiritual leader. On television.

It's interesting to note that while you yourself would shrink from inconveniencing yourself for your faith unlike all the millions standing for hours in the queue, unprovided by the Vatican or Roman authorities with portaloos, that your feeling holy has been bolstered by the red clothed pew section reserved for clergy and important visitors.

(Matthew, 23:6)