# Popewatch: Last Rites **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 31, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123 "2005-03-31T21:53:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123/21 "2005-04-01T08:27:58Z")
MSNBC just reported that the Pope has slipped into a coma. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123/22 "2005-04-01T08:34:31Z")
…And, now the Vatican denies this. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123/23 "2005-04-01T11:13:23Z")
The Pope sprung up from bed shouting, " April Fools!" Or “Gotcha YA!” You decide. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123/24 "2005-04-01T12:17:10Z")
Well, I expect I will die some day. Should I get Last Rites done the next time I see a Priest? How long are they good for? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123/25 "2005-04-01T12:54:34Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > Well, I expect I will die some day. Should I get Last Rites done the next time I see a Priest? How long are they good for? If you’re young and healthy, they call it “baptism.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123/26 "2005-04-01T12:58:11Z")
_Popewatch_ ought to be the name of a TV show. ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123/27 "2005-04-01T13:06:35Z")
From the [current lead story](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4400605.stm) on the Beeb news site: > [@](#): > > On Friday morning, he was “still lucid, fully conscious and extraordinarily serene”, the spokesman said. > > “This is surely an image I have never seen in these 26 years.” A little unfortunate, don’t you think? ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123/28 "2005-04-01T16:20:24Z")
IANACatholic, but in my little burg (which contains many Catholic residents), we called CCD “Catholic Combat Duty.” Thanks, **Campion** for the reminder and the smile today. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123/29 "2005-04-01T16:25:49Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > _Popewatch_ ought to be the name of a TV show. _Amazing Race_? _Survivor_? Pfffeh! _Popewatch_–it’s the next big reality craze! ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123/30 "2005-04-01T16:36:32Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > _Amazing Race_? _Survivor_? Pfffeh! _Popewatch_–it’s the next big reality craze! I’m already waiting for the sequel: “Conclave” (from the producers of “Survivor”). A dramatic excerpt from one of the commercials: “Cardinal Edmund Szoka, I’m sorry, but you have been voted out of the Sistene Chapel.” ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123/31 "2005-04-01T17:35:23Z")
Then you’d have to strand all the cardinals on a deserted island… (On the topic of the OP: [he’s getting worse](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2149&ncid=2149&e=3&u=/cpress/20050401/ca_pr_on_wo/pope)…) ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123/32 "2005-04-01T18:10:41Z")
Don’t buy it for a second. The guy comes from Rasputin’s blood line or something. ---
**Author:** ![harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/2acd7d/32.png) [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123/33 "2005-04-01T18:34:53Z")
Rumors are an Italian news station is announcing he has just passed. ☹ Waiting on confirmation. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123/34 "2005-04-01T20:17:42Z")
The rumors are [just rumors](http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/01/pope1/index.html): > [@](#): > > The Vatican has denied reports in the Italian media that the pope had died. The Pope is still alive but in very grave condition. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123/35 "2005-04-02T02:57:05Z")
> [@Terminus Est](#): > > The rumors are [just rumors](http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/01/pope1/index.html): > > The Pope is still alive but in very grave condition. That still seems to be the position as reported on the 1.00pm news today. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123/36 "2005-04-02T06:26:37Z")
Exorcizo te, immundissime spiritus…in nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123/37 "2005-04-02T07:59:35Z")
That is _not_ part of the Sacrament of the Sick, **ouryL**. You might want to take that sort of sentiment to the **Pit**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popewatch-last-rites/297123.md?page=1)