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April 02, 2005
You down with OPP?
(Obligatory Pope Post). Bad start, let me try that again.
As most of you will know by now, the Pope finally passed away today. I am not a religious man, and I am sure I will be sick of the word "Pope" pretty soon thanks to the media FRENZY that will follow, but in the meantime I am going to waffle on with my opinion(s) and anecdotes.
I will now share with you some info which I did not believe:
When the Pope dies, the officials that were part of the papal administration no longer rule. The governing of the Vatican is taken over by the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, or Chamberlain of the church. The camerlengo supervises all aspects of what goes on from the the death of the pope to the election of the next pope. His responsibilities include the papal funeral and preparations for the conclave. The camerlengo's first duty is to perform a medieval ritual. At the deathbed of the pope the camerlengo takes a silver hammer and lightly taps on the pope's forehead three times, calling him by his Christian name. When there is no reply, he announces to those present that the pope is dead.
Brutal, but a fact none the less. It got me thinking, "What if he was only almost dead, and the hammer finished him off?" I mean, talk about pressure!
I was told about this on April 1st so you can hopefully understand why I would not believe it until I actually saw the proof. No, I did not see the pope getting hit on the head, I was refering to the link.
As I said earlier, I'm not religious, so I will not be able to appreciate the "grandness" of it all, but I do not understand why so many people are being disrespectful of his death. I suppose it is easier to make fun of things you do not believe in, or things that use a silver hammer to test for death. I'm still having trouble with that info. Can you imagine if you hit the pope on the head and he was just sleeping?
I am glad for his sake that he made it through April 1st, although I suppose it just prolonged his pain. You know what? I really don't know why I started writing this post. In my non-religious eyes, he is just an old man who died, and for that I am sad. But in the grand scheme of things, surely that is what he wanted to do all along? To meet his maker? This is too much philosophy for a Saturday night.
Rest in Peace, old man. You deserve it. The Peace, that is.
Posted by skoo on April 2, 2005 11:13 PM
Comments
I agree people are insensitive and shouldn't be. I also agree WTH about the hammer?! That's... crazy. Shall I do that to you when you are passing? Hit you with a hammer? (No, you will NOT do that to me. You would drop it on me and kill me during a practice session!)
Course... the Egyptians did something similiar didn't they? And by similiar I mean a jackal or something instead of a hammer? And instead of the head the mouth? They tapped or put it to the mouth three times and said something - releasing the spirit? I forget now. And was it a jackal? I challenge you to find this out, skoo. And prove me right or wrong babe! :) (preferablly right)
Posted by: Kharysma on April 3, 2005 06:52 AM
I'm not very religious either, but we talked about it in school and I've heard the following things:
1.) The hammer is afaik made of Ivory - not Silver
2.) You may have skipped the word "lightly" when reading the part about hitting the head. In fact they only tap his head - its more a gesture than anything else
3.) Pope J.P.II actually asked them NOT to do it and they didn't - in fact they won't ever tap a pope with a hammer again when he dies
Because nowadays they have the ability to look onto an ECG to determine whether he is dead or not - and they did just that. It's like an old ritual and he was the one who stopped it sometime before he died.
Posted by: Excelcius on April 5, 2005 08:56 PM
In reply to Excelcius,
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/02/pope.daysafterdeath.ap/
According to CNN, the hammer is indeed silver, as I said.
They also state that it is unclear if the hammer ritual is still practised, and I am well aware it says "lightly" in the passage I quoted. I wouldn't really quote something without reading it, would I? A "light" tap could still be enough to "finish someone off", as I was suggesting in my post.
Despite their fancy ECG, they still call his name three times, perhaps the hammer thing is still done?
Posted by: skoo on April 5, 2005 09:58 PM
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