Isn't Pope's body decomposing?

[ps1074]

I mean come on... He died Saturday evening - Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, today is Thursday. It's been 5 freaking days... No freezer... nothing.

[oldtime dfl_er]

1. I believe they're hoping he'll be resurrected

But that can't happen if the body isn't in a natural state. Let's just hope the flowers around him are strong-smelling.

www.cafepress.com/blackoutbush

[SaveElmer]

2. Probably alot of incense

Catholics love incense!!!

Probably masking the odor...

[saracat]

25. This is really a condescending remark.

and smacks of being anti-Catholic. I used to be Catholic and I find this offensive!

[SaveElmer]

32. Hardly

I was catholic too...there was incense at every service!

What is condescending about incense ?

[flordehinojos]

42. the combination of incense and a putrefying body would be terribly

nauseating.

[saracat]

51. it just sounded flip."Catholics love insense". Insense was rarely used

except of really important occasions such as High Holy days or ordinations or funerals. I apologise if it wasn't meant that way. It was the way it sounded! Peace.

[zanne]

53. And I thought only feminists had no sense of humor...

Catholics joke about Catholic ritual, too!

[salvorhardin]

3. A friend and I were thinking the same thing

They've *got* to be putting him in the deep freeze at night... right?

[ps1074]

9. They closed the church last night for 90 minutes

The official reason given was they need to clean the church after almost 1 million people... The unofficial reason I believe was to do something to the body.

[Warpy]

4. Gotta be a miracle

or nocturnal ice from the Kwik-E-Mart.

Seriously, since he died from a huge bacterial load, I'd suspect he's been embalmed to some extent.

At this point, and in a warm room, he'd be badly bloated without either refrigeration or chemical preservation.

[Walt Starr]

7. Maybe the two hours they close down the viewing line

is what it takes to dunk him in liquid nitrogen nightly.

:shrug:

[Cooley Hurd]

17. They might just powder him up in that two hr period...

...not that powder inhibits decomposition, but it reminds me of what they had to do with Lincoln's body for most of the trip home to Springfield, IL. An undertaker rode along on the Lincoln train to rechalk his face before viewings in each host city. By the time it reached Springfield, the face had turned black, so much so that, despite makeup, it disturbed everyone who saw it. And, Lincold was embalmed...

on edit: Lincoln died on 4/15/65, and his funeral in Springfield was on 5/4/65, 19 days later...

[Carni]

24. From what I heard yesterday he was not embalmed

No offense intended to Catholics but I think a five day display of an unembalmed body is a bit much...there would be no way I would want to get involved in visiting a situation/service like that :(

[Love Bug]

5. I've been wondering that, too

I read he wasn't embalmed so you gotta wonder what state the body is in...

[luvLLB]

6. There is a quote in the bible, when Jesus is going to see his

dead friend Lazarus. His family told Jesus " but, he stinkith"....Sorry, but I agree, he must "stinketh" by now.

[wicket]

8. he's laying on a slab of ice

From what I've heard, but I can't imagine he smells very good either.

[RaleighNCDUer]

16. I was about to say, they probably have blocks of ice in the bier

that he's lying on. It would only make sense.

[alittlelark]

41. My guess was dry ice in the bier.

Super cold.

[Hugin]

10. 40 degrees...

The magic temperature is 40 degrees.

Saw it posted somewhere. If it goes below 40 for more
than 4 hours... Throw it out.

This is kind of a morbid thread, isn't it?

[tx_dem41]

11. I assume he's already been embalmed.

After that it takes a long while for decay to occur.

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. I read that they won't be embalming him -- just going natural.

I think they're hoping that in 20 years they'll look at him and he won't be decomposed, like a couple of the famous saints.

Good luck with that.

[JVS]

40. This reeks of trickery

They may have embalmed and then claimed not to, after 20 years they dig him up and lo and behold less decomposed than he should be. Instant Miracle.

[paula777]

12. People that view him say he's turning blue

and they won't embalm him because everyone assumes he's going to be name 'a saint' and saints don't need to be embalmed because they don't decay. Can you believe that they honestly believe that - in 2005 they believe such fairy tales.

[Cuban_Liberal]

13. Where did you hear that garbage?

The part about him not decomposing because saints don't decay?

:eyes:

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

15. Google...

"The Incorruptables", Cubey. It's out there and it has many adherents.

http://www.overcomeproblems.com/incorruptables.htm

http://www.geocities.com/goody.geo/artgallery.html

[saracat]

23. This is just garbage.I was born and raised a Catholic. I went to Catholic

schools and No one believes this crap and it isn't part of the belief system.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

28. I did not attack your religion...

Nor did I offer an opinion on the truth of this. I simply offered the links and the information.

I do not attack religious beliefs. I am nominally Episcopalian, at least that is how I was raised. The similarities between Episcopalianism and Catholicism are striking in extremis. Save one: Rome.

[SillyGoose]

31. Life long catholic here, 12 yrs catholic school

My father's cousin is a priest, my mother's cousin a nun.

Its not garbage. I remember being taught about the incorruptibles way back when in school. Maybe they don't go into all that in schools nowadays but it was definitely in our lessons then and part of the "belief system". (BTW, not all saints are incorruptible and its not a requirement to be one from what I remember.) St. Bernadette is one incorruptible.

[CornField]

35. I watched a show on Biography or the History Channel about a sect of monks

who go through a decade-long ritual which sets their body up for mummification -- that is, at the end of the ritual (which includes eating a very strict - and quite unusual - diet) they place themselves into a tomb of stone and die there. Their bodies do not decompose, but mummify.

[SillyGoose]

45. Sounds similar to these 2 Vietnamese Monks

http://www.gocvietnam.com/fa_the_mystery_of_the_mummies.html

Among its many historical bounties, Dau Pagoda, located 20 kilometres from Hanoi in Ha Tay province's Nguyen Trai Commune near Highway I, boasts the mummified bodies of monks Vu Khac Minh and Vu Khac Truong, who served in the pagoda during the 17th century. What makes these mummies so special and an ongoing mystery in international science circles is that these monks actually mummified themselves. They did so by undertaking a special exercise regimen and specific diet for, it is believed, about three to five years prior to their deaths. This kept their bodies "pure," keeping mother nature out of the decomposing process. The bodies were preserved in a seated meditation position, which they're still in today, and could almost pass for living.

[saracat]

52. I remember it being mentioned. I don't recall anyone

seriously believing that . They don't teach that in the Jesuit institutions for sure. I think it is mostly treated as legend. I think broadcasting this makes the church look stupid.

[msanthrope]

47. I must disagree with you. My brother, who is a scholastica,

assures me that the doctrine of incorruptability is most certainly beleived, taught and espoused within the Church.

In fact, if you journey through Europe, you will discover many churches and sites that host intact saints/their bones, and/or their blood.

As for the incense, my brother informs me that the censer is still part of weekly Mass.

[msanthrope]

48. Self-edited double post--sorry all n/t

[Cuban_Liberal]

26. Lots of saints' bodies have decomposed. n/t

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

29. Sure they have.

Didn't say they haven't. If they did not, there wouldn't be the reliquaries that exist.

[Cooley Hurd]

33. That was the big deal when they exhumed John XXIII...

...as part of his sainthood process in 2001. Some were shocked to see he hadn't decomposed (although it was later said that he was treated with some sort of preservative before his burial).

[Cuban_Liberal]

34. I think we agree.

The point in my initial post was that not ALL potential saints don't decompose, which was a refutation of the misinformation contained in the post I replied to.

:hi:

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

36. Of course we do, dear boy.

Now, don't blow a gasket. You gotta keep a cool tool, you fiery latino d00d. :D

It's them Cubano coffee shooters. I just know it. :D

[Cuban_Liberal]

38. LOL!

I'm just a bit stressed at battling utter ignorance about the Church and the Papacy for the ten days, is all...

:P

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

43. Well, remember something:

It has been, for many years now, THE FROTHING RIGHT and their fundamentalist running dogs who have been whipping up these condemnations and misconceptions of The Catholic Church. "Whore of Babylon" and all that "Uncle Miltie" Cooper stuff. Do you remember their rhetoric when the initial reports of child molestation came out? I do.

In a large group of people, mistakes are made and bad people exist. There is no way around that. With that said, much of this stuff can be traced back to a process of disinformation by the John Birch Right.

[paula777]

27. I heard it on several tv and news programs and thanks Tandalyo

for posting those links.

[July]

39. I heard it, too, believe it was on Spanish television (TVE).

Sounds very strange, though.

[iconoclastNYC]

22. How dare you insult my religion! (sarcasm) N/T

[saracat]

30. No one believes that.

[leftofthedial]

18. He lets go a really good one once in awhile

just like when he was alive

[JVS]

44. Ugh. Decay related flatulance is really a gross though

[Auntie Bush]

19. I don't mean to be disrespectful...But I was wondering the same thing.

So I realized everyone was viewing him from far away. I figure he is lying on a refrigerated platform/bed. Also the body is cooled down after everyone goes away. It's still amazing with the heat an all... and one commentator said the body was not embalmed. God works in mysterious ways...he does what's necessary. The Pope is living/unliving proof of that. Bless Pope Paul.

[PlanetBev]

21. When Pope Paul died in August 1978

it was hot in Rome. People did report that Pope Paul was starting to get a bit ripe.

[Walt Starr]

20. I dunno. Looks like he's wearing a heavy coat of makeup

[Princess Turandot]

54. He likely would need to, given that he died from septicemia..

it often leaves the person's skin quite discolored, or so I've been told by one of my doctors.

[NYC2099]

37. On rare holy people, the Catholic Church will try NOT to embalm a body...

This is so that if the this person is on the path to sainthood the body may be looked at in its 'natural' (not embalmed) state - the body is ALWAYS examined no matter if its been 50 years or 1000 years for saints. And on occasion, the body was found to be the same as the day they passed and even possesing a pleasant odor. This is NOT something that occurs to all or, even most saints. It is a rare gift that God gives for whatever reason. If an individual is found to be incorrupt, it is just an indication that they led an extrordinare life and was given that gift to the individual by the almighty.

If a person is embalmed, the body will not decompose naturally or take a much longer time. They church is hoping that JPII body will not decompose. Of course this does not always work out too good. Pope Pius XII (I think) was not embalmed and in 2 days the body was seriously decaying in Rome. Some bodies even explode due to gases in the body.

[CornField]

46. Is that like a continuation of the "sanctity of death"?

I think that's the correct phrase. A Catholic friend was telling me about when his mother-in-law passed and how the room was filled with the beautiful scent of flowers.

[msanthrope]

49. Yes, according to legend, he decomposed so badly that

the lid to his coffin cracked--from the pressure, prior to burial.

[Lindacooks]

55. Um, any proof of that?

Like links, scientific evidence? NOBODY is 'incorrupt', and after the Pope's stance on Bernard Law, he's hardly a saint. Or do you think God thinks pedophilia and covering it up is okay?

[catmandu57]

50. I worked nightshift at a nursing home

When I was young, we had a woman die during the night, we called the administrator as required he aknowledged our call and went back to sleep.
So at seven oclock the next morning she was already starting to smell, the blood was pooling in her feet and gasses would escape.
That was in a short space of seven hours, they must be doing something, the smell of death is strong and unmistakable.