# I'm a heartless SOB. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 5, 2005, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-heartless-sob/297745 "2005-04-05T00:02:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-heartless-sob/297745/21 "2005-04-05T16:00:14Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I would wager that’s not true. A liberal Pope would, I’m guessing, impact American politics. To the same extent, a conservative pope did as well. Perhaps there _is_ reason enough to cry. ;j ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-heartless-sob/297745/22 "2005-04-05T16:29:47Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > To the same extent, a conservative pope did as well. Perhaps there _is_ reason enough to cry. ;j Yeah, I should have continued my thought. I think the Pope has more impact on our politics than many people might think. Take gay marriage for example. Without the RCC being agin it, people like some of my relatives wouldn’t have been against it. The issue doesn’t really impact them and they didn’t really think too much about it, so they went along with the church. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-heartless-sob/297745/23 "2005-04-05T19:36:38Z")
Nobody ever said you needed to cry over anyone’s death or you’d be a terrible, awful person. If the Pope’s death touched you to the point of tears, hugs and a tissue and a shoulder to cry on for you. He was a great and inspirational man. If you really couldn’t care less, props all the same. Not everybody is a devout Catholic. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-heartless-sob/297745/24 "2005-04-05T19:38:12Z")
For what it’s worth, I wasn’t able to get that worked up, either. It sounds to me like he was a good man who lived a life full of adversity but somehow got to his exalted position anyway. Good for him. I’m sure there are lots of good men who lived lives full of adversity yet managed to do great things anyway. (Of course, I disagreed wholeheartedly with almost every single one of his decrees and never felt that the rules he put forth in the name of God or whatever meshed very well with real life, but that’s not the point.) Anyway, I feel about as bad about his passing as I would for some nameless old guy on the news. I hope that the next pontiff is a bit more forward-thinking, but I doubt that’ll ever happen, given that they say that at least 95 percent of the highest ranking church officers were hand-picked by the Pope. ---
**Author:** ![Limbo\_Donni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Limbo\_Donni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limbo_Donni)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-heartless-sob/297745/25 "2005-04-05T21:21:07Z")
Lots of people have a fantasy life talking to (“praying about”) the pope, in the same way they talk to saints or ancestors when in the graveyard. Asking for favors and relief from the cares of the world, mostly. ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-heartless-sob/297745/26 "2005-04-05T22:06:45Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > Remember the reaction to Princess Diana’s death? I was astounded, really, at the public displays of grief. **OhFace** told me she cried when the Princess died. I couldn’t even pretend to comprehend why. Especially because **OhFace** is from Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-heartless-sob/297745/27 "2005-04-06T03:42:09Z")
> [@overlyverbose](#): > > Anyway, I feel about as bad about his passing as I would for some nameless old guy on the news. I hope that the next pontiff is a bit more forward-thinking, but I doubt that’ll ever happen, given that they say that at least 95 percent of the highest ranking church officers were hand-picked by the Pope. I take comfort in the fact that appointees, like the Supreme Court, often have minds of their own. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-heartless-sob/297745.md?page=1)