It is now quite apparent that Pope John Paul II’s boss is attempting to recall him. There must be a lot of saintly work to do, because the signs seem pretty obvious. You people with your feeding tubes are preventing him from getting on with his Poply duties. His ass is gonna get fired of hes late. This isnt the sort of job where you can just call in sick as refuse to show up.
Let him move on.
[/jk]
My guess is that the Pontiff, not officially regarding feeding tubes and such to be “heroic measures”, would be the staunchest advocate for keeping himself alive in his present state. As he seems to value his own suffering as some kind of spiritual communion, I say he’s welcome to it.
I posted this in a different thread:
That’s certainly possible. <That the Pope will die in the next 24 hours.> He has been given last rites, which by itself doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but there has also been a statement that he is not going back to hospital. Sounds to me as if he is beyond the point of medical help, and they are going to let nature take its course.
He’s in a persistent papal state.
Cynical Gabe, you are an ass and so is the loopydude.
Some of us are catholics and for us he is our spiritual leader, you are making fun of his suffering.
Also some of us are human and for us he is a fellow human being that is suffering a lot, you are making fun of his suffering.
I hope that when your time comes you face it like he does.-
His feeding tube is a different one than Schiavo’s-he’s also still conscious, from what I gather.
I’m not a fan, but I do hope if he goes, he goes peacefully. That being said, I don’t wish his death.
Well color me chastened. My my, that’s a pain that’ll linger.
FWIW, fuckwit, I wasn’t “making fun” (of the Pope…you, on the other hand…). I’m noting that it’s difficult to feel sorry for the guy, as he has made pain a public spectacle, purportedly to provide an “example” to the world’s faithful of what I gather is a demonstration of the Christian value for Life.
God help me, I’m going to hell, but this cracked me up!
I have lost a great deal of respect for the Pontiff in the past say 8 years or so.
Don’t wish him any harm, but don’t see the need to tiptoe around either.
Did those who are protesting this thread defend the need for dignity when Yasser Arafat died?
Just askin’…
Actually, my interpretation would be that his public appearances are a sign of his great devotion to his duties. He takes the job (and the faith) so seriously that he goes out to stand on the balcony and try to speak when bedrest would be better for him, and might make his life last longer. So devoted is he to his duties to God that he’s willing to be a living demonstration that devotion and faith, as a road to everlasting life, are more important than preserving the body’s earthly life.
I can see this as, rather than a showoff of his pain, a demonstration of his willingness to accept pain and inconveneince to live the way God intends (which, for a Pope, involves all these masses and blessings and whatnot).
I’m waiting for Jesse Jackson to show up at the Vatican.
Even though I was raised and educated in the Catholic faith, and the current pope has been in power ever since I can remember he long ago became to me nothing but an old guy with funny clothes. I sincerely wish him no ill, but I am getting tired of all this “Pope not dead yet” in the news. He’s like the new Franco.
Is Franco dead? :eek:
I must’ve missed the 24-hr news coverage when they pulled his feeding tube…
I agree. I’m not a catholic, but I recognize that the pope has a leadership role among Christianity, and despite my disagreements with many of his positions, he clearly exemplifies Christ . There is no doubt about his integrity, his love for God and his love for mankind. We all lose when he goes. What a Christian soldier !
Now they’re reporting his got a fever and a urinary infection. Yeah, because I can’t stand not knowing about the Pope’s plumbing.
Why isn’t Jesus your spiritual leader?
Because Jesus is not here.
The Pope is our conduit to Jesus and God and the third part of the trinity that I never really understood and don’t care to learn about now.
Yeah, well, the guy could have checked out in opiated euphoria before things got this bad for him, and I certainly wouldn’t have begrudged him making the best of a hopeless situation. Of course, my idea of “best”, being a gentle slide into the inevitable, is rather contrary to Roman Catholic faith. No, far better, it appears, to take up our own crosses and suffer as our Lord did while we creep along in our own little passion toward the grave, for how great our reward will be on The Other Side.
So when I think of the Pope and his blessed example, I also think of millions of Catholics (and other Christians) lurching toward the grave in agony, tortured by pain of terminal illnesses which palliative care can not mitigate, and how such a state is “preferable” to a humane end to existence that would be available to all if folks like the Pope did not hold sway in this world.
Like I said, he’s welcome to his pain. I just wish he and his ilk didn’t force it on others, or hold their acts of mortification up as some kind of laudible example, rather than the “holy” showmanship it is, essentially. Saints throughout time have been revered for the hideous trials they endured, and their stories have been a source of comfort for those who also suffered in faith. But when the suffering is unnecessary except as a condition of faith, I see very little to admire in the endeavor.
Dude, there’s no competition between them.
Anyway, my grandma died of Parkinson’s in 1997. She was always lucid and calm and she wrote a letter–in tiny, pained handwriting, but totally coherent–the very morning of her death. So, the mind is perfectly OK, if sometimes preoccupied with illness. A quick cold was enough to carry her off and she was ready for it.
He is my vicar until his Boss calls him into the home office. His mind is on me and the rest of his flock and mine is on him.
That would be the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost.
Yeah, that’s it’s name, but what is it?
No, don’t bother explaining. It won’t make any sense and I no longer care to know.