Pope

The pope died. The pope was rather interesting. Read about the pope here. Bio
Now that pope is dead and this being the Catholic church, there is bound to be some intrigue as to the new pope and also about old popes.

Here's a few more links I dug up. The first two concerns John XXIII. The Vatican secretly dug him up in 2001, about 38 years after his death. There's a picture in there since they've now decided to put his body on display in St. Peter's Basilica. John 23 was also beautfied, which is one of the steps to becoming a saint. Sainthood is one those things Catholics, and especially the recently deceased pope are pretty fervent about. John Paul II was apparently one of the most prolific saintmaking popes. On the checklist of saintlike qualities is incorruptibility, that is of one's mortal vessel. So to prove incorruptibility, you dig someone up and see if their corpse decayed or not. Thats probably why the Vatican likes to dig people up so much.

So why do they do this, isn't good deeds good enough to get youself be called a saint? Well the scriptures are full of examples. Jesus himself rises after three days. Mary the mother of God is suppose to have ascended into heaven. This is not as if some shadowy soul rises up from the body and floats up. Her actual body is suppose to rise into some sort of shinning light. Then there is also Lazarus who fight decay and rises from the dead. Although with him he continues on with his mortal life. So that explains a lot. Thats why the church was so against cremation for a long time. Now though, I wonder, are we expecting John 23 to smash his glass sarcophagus and float up? What is incorruptiblility without a resurrection and ascension. Well I should ask my priest, but he will probably call me a heretic. So I'll just make observation on the internet. Although, someone might be checking...

John XXIII
John XXIII
Papal embalmers