Weekly BlogScan: (Ding, Dong) The Pope Is Dead

The blog announcement on April 2, 2005, of the death of Pope John Paul II from the well-reputed Pope Blog was followed by today's post which runs down the papabile, complete with links to biographical information regarding the list of Cardinals considered to be potential Papal candidates. Wim Wylin in Belgium gives us a quick overview (in English) of the expected selection process within the Conclave of Cardinals.

An interesting comment from Colorado blogger Phil Steiger was presciently posted on February 11, 2005, after the Pope's illness was first made public. He discusses a William F. Buckley column in which Buckley said he was not praying for the Pope to live longer, because "the progressive deterioration in the pope's health over the last several years confirms that there are yet things medical science can't do, and these include giving the pope the physical strength to coordinate and to use his voice intelligibly."

At Fafblog, the Giblets is in mourning. Fafnir suggests

"How bout we play a game! A game called Talkin Bout Somethin That's Not The Pope."
"sniff. Okay," says Giblets.
"So, today I was at the zoo, see," says me. "An they had all these fish."
"Fish like the Pope used to have!" says Giblets. "Oh, how Giblets misses his Pope!"
"The Pope didn't have any fish," says me.
"Sure he did," says Giblets. "He had the Holy Mackerel..."

A less idiosyncratic regret is expressed at The Pope, the Church, and the Jews, where blogger Gerald Glazer notes John Paul II's death "closed a remarkable chapter in the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Jewish people. He did more to make this relationship amicable than any of his predecessors, with the possible exception of Pope John XXIII." Glazer supports this statement with specifics. On the other hand, Chippla Vandu describes John Paul II's special relationship with Nigeria, perhaps in honor of papabile-listed Nigerian Francis Cardinal Arinze. In China, the CatholicLawyer tells us, the Pope's terminal illness prompted a crackdown on underground churches.

From the It's All About Us department, the Angry Arab warns us to expect charges of complicity in the Pope's death to be filed against Syrian laborers in Lebanon. Vermonter Cathy Resmer asks if the media blitz on the Pope's death is due to the profit factor. "Could it be that covering the pope is easier than devoting the energy and effort to understanding the state's Medicaid crisis, or the new pension bill?" And Bloghead Paul explains why we didn't see Israeli singer Achinoam Nini (Noa) give her rendition of Ave Maria at the Pope's funeral. (Although "what a nice Jewish-Yemini girl from Israel-NY is doing singing 'Ave Maria' is a bit of a mystery...".)

In Bogota, Pope John Paul II lives on as Incredible Popeman, an underground comic book in which Il Papa joins the likes of Superman and Batman in the fight against evil.

Along with his yellow cape and green chastity pants, the muscular super-pontiff wields a faith staff with a cross on top and carries holy water and communion wine... [He] is reborn with superpowers beyond the infallibility Catholic doctrine gave him on earth.
—ABC NewsOnline, Wednesday, April 6, 2005; 7:19am

As for the succession, the most unique viewpoint comes from OrthoDixie, a site administered by "a priest of the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church in Western North Carolina". Unbeknownst to the entire Vatican conclave, Fr. Joseph tells us, John Paul II had already selected his successor. (Please insert tongue into cheek before reading.)

I'll give the final word to Eric the Unread, whose quick eye noted the closed captioning on UK's Sky News on April 3, 2005, as it announced "officials are saying it was irreversible heart failure caused by sceptic shock."

There's a lot of that going around.
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