This is a touching photo. The care they took with him (note the pillows)

[LibraLiz1973]

I mean the pillows under his back. It was probably quite an emotional experience to be praying over him in the private papal chapel.




In this picture made available by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, from left, Vatican Master of Ceremonies Archbishop Piero Marini of Italy, Cardinal Camerlengo Eduardo Martinez Somalo of Spain, an unidentified prelate, Senior Cardinal Deacon Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez of Chile, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz of Poland and Archbishop Leonardo Sandri of Argentina recites prayers in front of the body of Pope John Paul II lying out in state in the papal private chapel at the Vatican, Sunday, April 3, 2005.

[ClintonTyree]

1. I find it..............

ghoulish and disgusting. The public display of a dead body dosn't "touch" me anywhere but in the pit of my stomach.

[LibraLiz1973]

2. I agree with you in most cases

This doesn't freak me out as much. In part, I think, because he is not in a coffin.

I wasn't touched by the body- I was touched by the men around it.

[Name removed]

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[LibraLiz1973]

7. I am sure they had to have been

He looks at peace, which made me happy for him.
The more formal shots of him lying in repose
are a bit tougher to look at.

On edit: I realized why I feel that way. In picture one he doesn't have the huge headpiece & the staff. The 1st photo is just simpler. Which is why I was touched.

[jonnyblitz]

10. LOL

:spank:

[Runcible Spoon]

6. must... restrain... bad... joke.....

about Catholic touching.....THERE! I did it! I didn't make the joke! :dilemma:

[LibraLiz1973]

9. Darn It! I walked right into that one.

I would have had to say something too.

[Lex]

4. Dead bodies shouldn't be disgusting or frightening.

Death is a part of life.

[Delphinus]

5. Agreed.

Death is a part of life, but something that is still such a taboo subject.

[bush_is_wacko]

12. Catholic "wakes" are still VERY much the norm for Catholics!

The veiwing of the body is really very important in the grieving process for many people. Understand, it is not meant in any way to be goulish! This is essential to many people as a way to recognize the fact the soul has indeed left the shell. I don't mean for that to sound harsh. It may seem that way to some, but I have attended MANY Catholic wakes and this is just the way they are done for the most part. Very few Catholics have stopped doing this.

Catholics really very rarely have difficulty moving through the grieving process and, I beleive, it is becuase they do not "fear" viewing a dead body. A Catholic will see this and KNOW they are looking at the remnants of a life and mourn and celebrate the passing of a great soul into the hands of his maker. Veiwing brings about memories of a life well lived. It does not conjure images of ghosts, goblins, and ghouls for us.

It is very touching to see how much the men in this picture cared for this man, I agree.

[phylny]

22. When my mom died, my father had to all but push me into the

room - I was 6 months pregnant and had such a hard time walking in and seeing her dead body. And I was Catholic. It was quite difficult for me, as I had dreams of her "alive" face turning into her "dead" face. The thing that I found interesting was how so many of the older relatives could touch her, kiss her. I could not. I could barely bring myself to look at her, let alone touch her.

However, now - 16 years later - I am quite at peace and know that her suffering ended when she died, and we have nice, fun, and happy memories of her.

[DoYouEverWonder]

25. When I was three

my grandfather died. I didn't know him well and didn't have any big emotional attachment to him, especially since most everyone else didn't seem to like him much. Anyway when he died my parents had to take me along. All I kept asking was if I could get to see a dead body. I was really curious what it would look like. Unfortunately, they would let me in the room where he was laid out, so I didn't get to see one until a few years later.

[bush_is_wacko]

30. And I'll bet you get over that fear of touching a dead body!

I have really experienced more than the norm regarding the dying and I agree that when I saw the first dead body I was a very weirded out by it. Eventually though I did learn that for some of us it seems to aid the grieving process in a profound way. The reason the older people were more at ease was simply that they had been through it many more times than you had. The elderly must learn to accept that death is the end result to life so they outgrow their fear of a dead body pretty quickly after attending many wakes and funerals.

I have also seen very young children react to a dead body, not in fear, but seemingly in a sense of knowing that THAT is NOT a sleeping person, but only a shell. Both my daughter and the son of a friend who died way too young had exactly THAT reaction as very small children. The friends son made the comment to his mother that THAT was not daddy, daddy was gone to heaven and my daughter simply patted the hand of my grandmother after she had died and made the statement GG is in heaven now.

[FreedomAngel82]

32. I've never

been able to be in the same room of a dead body much less look. I don't know. Just one of those personal things. I've been working on confronting my fear (I guess you could say) but I haven't been to that many funerals. :shrug:

[ClintonTyree]

15. Of course, I know that...........

:eyes: but why publicly display his body and sit around worshiping it? It's stupid.

It's like sitting around and worshiping the box your refrigerator came in.

They do it for themselves, to grieve, yada, yada, yada. Other than selfishness, it serves no purpose whatsoever.

[Lex]

16. It is their tradition and I don't see how it harms you in any way.

What is "stupid" to you may be very meaningful to them for religious reasons.

[Dorian Gray]

27. Very true, Lex.

Plus, let's add that there is no "Worshipping" of the body going on. It's called grieving, and viewing of the body is a part of the Catholic tradition. I've been to a bazillion Catholic wakes.

I've also seen Ho Chi Minh's body lying in state in Vietnam. That didn't freak me out, either.

[merh]

28. Nobody is worshipping him.

They are praying for him and thanking God that they were given the gift that was his life and thanking God for letting him find peace.

Where the heck do you get worship?

[bush_is_wacko]

31. No. It's not worshiping him... the viewing of the body is a catalyst

for memories of him for those that knew him. I would not want to attend the pope's wake because I had no personal attachment to him, but for many the viewing of his body will represent a memory of him that was profound for them in some way. This particular pope did touch a lot of lives. he traveled all over the world and he literally "touched" millions of people. He was never afraid to get close to his parishoners. That really makes him something different than past popes for many people.

I assure though, it is not worship of him. Just a profound sense of having been moved by him in some way.

[LittleClarkie]

8. Different culture I suppose

It used to be more done in America too, I think, before funeral parlors.

But then from your comment, you might find funeral parlors ghoulish too.

It's a needful thing though, for some people to have closure. I know my family didn't react until we were brought in for the private viewing of my mom. I never heard my dad cry like that before. There's something about actually seeing the body that makes it real.

But I do understand your feeling, as I have a few friends who don't "do" funerals.

[Warpy]

11. Some folks need to say goodbye to the shell

and some people don't.

When my mother died, I told my dad to sit with her until the cremation people came to remove her body, because it would be the only chance he had. He's since thanked me for that, although he felt weird at the time. I left him alone with her. They had been married for 57 years.

I'm not going to secondguess anybody's need for elaborate ritual at death. My parents didn't want it for themselves, and I don't want it for me. To each his or her own.

[TheModernTerrorist]

13. Why does death

always have to be ghoulish and disturbing? Death is one of those certainties in life that we can count on, and it has become customary in this country (and a few others) to view death as a disturbing fact of life, as an end. Many other countries see it as a celebration of life almost, having parades to honor the dead and whatnot. I think it would do this country a lot of good to stop looking at death in such a negative light, because there isn't a whole lot we can do about it. :-)

[greatbubba]

14. Death is taboo only to Americans. The day Americans learn to accept

it will be the day death will not be taboo. AMERICA is the only country that takes steps to scare people of death something instilled by the US Government. Every other country rejoices, parties, and celebrates when someone passes. WHY BECAUSE THEY ARE FREE....However here in the US they want to bury you in a steel gage coffin and in a cement encase box so as to prevent your body from returning to the earth and your spirit finally being free. Wake up people. DEATH is just the beginning.

[Lex]

17. I agree

and I don't understand why people are so personally offended by it all.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[neebob]

20. Oh, man

And here I was feeling guilty about what I said! We're both gonna get it, I spect.

[Renew Deal]

21. Just a little religious humor

O8)

[leesa]

23. Well aren't the pillows there to lift his head high enough to rest on top

of the guilded book?

[w4rma]

24. Maybe.

I'm always wary of so much attention being piled on a single individual's situation when so many other folks are in the same situation.

If the attention on this one person is harnessing attention towards a change that also helps all the other folks in a similar situation, then I rarely have any qualms about so much focus on a single individual's situation.

[XemaSab]

26. He looks very peaceful

It sounds like he had a very peaceful ending, suitable for a very peaceful life.

[LibraLiz1973]

29. I agree

Some of the new contenders they are showing for the papacy are not so inspiring souding. Could just be me