# Let the poor Pope die already!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 31, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-pope-die-already/297133 "2005-03-31T22:25:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-pope-die-already/297133/61 "2005-04-02T20:20:25Z")
I’ve heard serious questions on whether the Popethat only lasted 30 days before dying mysteriously was purposely “fired” for not going along with the program. Any info on that? ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-pope-die-already/297133/62 "2005-04-02T20:24:03Z")
Re: The OP: Done and done. He was only unconscious (not comatose) for part of one day. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-pope-die-already/297133/63 "2005-04-02T20:36:58Z")
> [@Good Egg](#): > > I’ve heard serious questions on whether the Popethat only lasted 30 days before dying mysteriously was purposely “fired” for not going along with the program. Any info on that? Those questions aren’t serious. John Paul I was simply overwhelmed by the task. From [wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_I): > [@](#): > > John Paul was the first pope to admit that the prospect of the papacy had daunted him to the point that other cardinals had to encourage him to accept it. In fact, he was reported to have told them in the Conclave, “May God forgive you for what you have done on my behalf,” with the smile that became his trademark; he also strongly suggested to his aides and staff that he believed he was unfit to be pope. The article also contains some speculation on conspiracy theories. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-pope-die-already/297133/64 "2005-04-02T22:15:29Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Oh, bollock off, **matt\_mcl**. The “it’s all about me” reference was about your self-importantly barging into the (already tasteless) thread to seize the opportunity to say "Wait, nobody’s mentioned the Pope’s " (I started typing that as “Pole’s”, and come to think of it I could have left it that way) “deplorable stance on gay rights. Wahh”, nothing more. > > And I’m not homophobic nor, as a rule, **matt\_mcl** phobic either, but you just got up my nose. Now quibble about the capacity of my nasal cavity, if you have to. But I’d take it as a favour if, next time you want to bang on about the neglected subject :rolleyes: of the RC Church’s attitude to gayness, you pick a better time and place to do it. It’s not like you’ll be short of a claque or two. Nonsense. The Pope did a great deal of harm, not only to gay people, but to women around the world forbidden to control their own reproduction and who contracted heterosexual HIV because their spiritual leader told them it was a sin to protect themselves from infection. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-pope-die-already/297133/65 "2005-04-02T22:16:45Z")
To be fair, though, JPII did lead the resistance agaisnt Russian rule in Eastern Europe that eventually brought down the Iron Curtain. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-pope-die-already/297133/66 "2005-04-02T23:13:28Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > To be fair, though, JPII did lead the resistance agaisnt Russian rule in Eastern Europe that eventually brought down the Iron Curtain. Yep, contrary to what the Reagan fellators would have you believe, the Pope was probably right up there with Gorbachev in ending communism. (His role may be hyped, but it’s definitely larger than Reagan’s). He’s also the first non-Italian in 450 years and the first Slav EVER. As a Slav on my mother’s side, that’s damned cool. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-pope-die-already/297133/67 "2005-04-04T02:52:26Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > And I’m not homophobic nor, as a rule, **matt\_mcl** phobic either, but you just got up my nose. Now quibble about the capacity of my nasal cavity, if you have to. But I’d take it as a favour if, next time you want to bang on about the neglected subject :rolleyes: of the RC Church’s attitude to gayness, you pick a better time and place to do it. A better time and place… than the BBQ Pit?? Yeah, what I had to say _was_ expressed a little too politely, wasn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-pope-die-already/297133/68 "2005-04-04T08:19:36Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > A better time and place… than the BBQ Pit?? > > Yeah, what I had to say _was_ expressed a little too politely, wasn’t it? Well, we were both guilty of that. _tips hat to **gobear** for taking issue with a point I wasn’t actually making_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-pope-die-already/297133/69 "2005-04-04T13:41:53Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Yep, contrary to what the Reagan fellators would have you believe, the Pope was probably right up there with Gorbachev in ending communism. (His role may be hyped, but it’s definitely larger than Reagan’s). Is that so? Perhaps you might provide one cite of one Reagan “fellator” who wishes to deny the Pope’s important role in the fall of communism? I find this debate on who was more responsible for the fall of communism rather silly. Reagan appeared on the heels of decades of American resistance to the Soviet empire. The pope appeared on the heels of a Polish electrician who who founded the entity by which the Pope could lend his support. Gorbachev appeared on the heels of decades of increasing Kremlin frustration with the Soviet economy and the disaster in Afghanistan. I’m sure there are more people who can lay claim to important roles in this event. Nevertheless, not one of these figures you mention would have accomplished this important historical event on their own. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-pope-die-already/297133.md?page=3)