God Bless Him.

The Pope Dies.
 

Just confirmed that Pope John Paul II has passed.

Just turned on CNN.

Probably just budded in front of Shiavo at the gates.

As much as I yawn at, and don't understand the Catholics and the Pope....my heart goes out to those that are affected, which are billions. Sad to think about all those people losing a 'loved one'.

Where did you hear that?

FSN is reporting it and there was a feed from Vatican Press room someone ssaying Pope has died. The vital signs of the pope has gone flat.

CNN and Fox reporting

Yep, my friends in Italy just confirmed it.

All of the chuch bells in Italy will ring for the next 10 minutes.

Looks like that gun shot wound finally caught up to him.

I wonder what kind of debate we've going to see over the next Pope. There is some discussion over a Pope from the developing world. Well, this is a sad day.

I feel bad about for people that are saddened about his loss. At least he lived a long and productive life.

Damn Soviets

Yeah, couldn't find anything about it on the majors (him actually dying)

It should be noted that ABC, CBS, and NBC have yet to break in, and CNN has not confirmed JP's death

Reuters is confirming that the pope has died.

Interesting...CNN had a Breaking News reporting that the Italian Press reported the Pope died, but now it's gone and the "Pope Clinging to Life" story remains. Sounds like he's on his last legs at the very least, and probably will be his last day.

He will be impossible to replace. I truly hope they do not replace him with another Italian Pope. That is not what the Church needs. We need another Pope cut from the same cloth as John Paul II.

MSNBC still hasn't gone into SPECIAL REPORT MODE.

Not a Catholic, but I have always had a great admiration for the Pope. The next guy has big shoes to fill.

reuters online isn't. where are you people finding this info. links plz?

As a catholic I really am lost right now. He is the only pope that this generation 25-under has had. I don't know how my generation can adapt to another pope.
It will be a long road before we can love thie next pope.

Sky Italia says his brain and heart is still functioning...

fox news reporting that the pope is still alive.

interesting, there are 32 people viewing this thread.

Do they have a list of people who are, not sure the term, but I will use nominated, to replace him?

On Fox news they just kind of apologized for prematurely calling the pope's death. Apparently he isn't quite gone yet.

I hear Richard Chamberlain is next in line...

My friends in Italy just told me that RAI (the state TV agency) said his heart did stop for a period of time, but it restarted on it's own.

Fox was carrying a statement when the interpeter who thought was off air, said he was dead. That's why Fox and Reuters reported his death.

Funny... my wife just IM'ed me to tell me that they keep breaking into regular programming with Pope updates... apparently it's pissing off my 17 month old son... he's screaming at the TV every time they do it...

Don't fuck with his Elmo time, man...

Good Humanitarian, he was/is. The catholic faith will miss their leader

Sad.....


Todd

"I feel happy!!" - THWAP!!!

CBC, CTV, and SRC have dumped out of regular programming up in Canada, reporting the same confusion.

They aren't trying to restart it with medical intervention? Shouldn't they be doing everything possible to prolong his life?

Hey CHEM, not to be callous, but you may wish to edit your thread title.

No, apparently it isn't Vatican policy - they are letting nature run its course I think...

Edit: my wife just said he's getting help to breathe and such... but no electric shocks to re-start the heartbeat.

How very strange... I sense contradictions once again.

I'm sure JP2 has made his feelings on the subject very well known.

He is the only Pope that this 30 year old remembers.

actually had an interesting conversation about this the other day with a family friend who is a jesuit priest. He actually reminded us that the official position of the catholic church since like 1600 is essentially that heroic and unnatural measures need not be taken to prolong life.

Well, he's at his apartment in the Vatican, he didn't want to go back to the hospital. I'm not sure what medical equipment they have on hand. Maybe they sent for a jump-start kit, and the heart started beating again before it arrived.

My friend is telling me that there is a lot of confusion, and no one really knows what is going on. She said that they apologized for the wrong announcement, and will only report he is dead once there is official word from the Vatican.

What is the contradiction? If you are talking about Schiavo it is apples and oranges... The Pope has clearly defined instructions for this event. In Schiavo's case you had no clearly defined instructions, and then a fight between family members about what to do. Combine that with a man who has been living with, and has two kids with, another woman and I think you can figure out why there was such an uproar.

He'll eventually be right.

Vatican issues an official denial that the Pope is dead.

It is interesting that Terri Schiavo's parents stated they would disregard their daughter's wishes, even if they were known clearly to them. They are Catholics. With some research I expect to find other Catholics that are on the record against letting someone die. I'll work on it.

Maybe not a contradiction with the Pope himself, but contradictions within the Catholic faith. We know for fact that two Catholics, Terri Schiavo's parents, made sworn statements that they would disregard their daughter's wish to die even if they knew it to be the truth.

EDIT: I won't talk about it in this thread, per stevew's wish. Suffice to say, I find contradictions in the Catholic faith. If he loses conciousness but could live a few more years with his feeding tube in place, I fully expect them to keep it there indefinitely since their position on that has already been stated. You are not allowed to refuse ordinary care, which feeding tubes are considered according to the Pope himself.

The good news is that the pope is alive again. The bad news is his hunger for brains.

CAN WE PLEASE STOP TALKING ABOUT THE SHIAVO CASE!

At least in this thread?

Man, that was loud...

I always liked the Pope...hopefully he's not in pain right now.

Yeah. As much as I disagreed with him on many things, JP was by all accounts a good man, and a good pope.

Some of the Catholics want to explain something to an admitted 'ignorant' when it comes to the Pope?

What makes him so special in the Catholic religion? That's an honest question will no ill-will guided towards Catholics. Just curious as to why those of us who don't follow him and his religion will be damned to hell (tongue in cheek of course).

I should know this, but again I will admit that I am not hip to all the rules of Catholic Christianity.

thanks

the pope is technically the bishop of rome. and the bishop of rome is acknowledged as the leader of the catholic church.



The title pope stems from the Greek word papas, which simply means "father." Early in Christian history it was used as a formal title expressing affectionate respect for any bishop and sometimes even priests. Today it continues to be used in Eastern Orthodox churches for the patriarch of Alexandria.

In the West, however, it has been used exclusively as a technical title for the bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church since about the ninth century — but not for solem occasions. Technically, the person holding the office of the bishop of Rome and Pope also has the titles:

• Holy Father
  His Holiness
  Bishop of Rome
  Vicar of Jesus Christ
  Successor of St. Peter
  Prince of the Apostles
  Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church
  Primate of Italy
  Patriarch of the West
  Servant of the Servants of God
  Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Province of Rome
  Sovereign of the State of Vatican City

A pope is, in essence, the supreme legislative, executive, and judicial authority in the Roman Catholic Church — there are no "checks and balances" like one may be accustomed to finding in secular governments.

Canon 331 describes the office of pope thus:

• The office uniquely committed by the Lord to Peter, the first of the Apostles, and to be transmitted to his successors, abides in the Bishop of the Church of Rome. He is head of the College of Bishops, the Vicar of Christ, and the Pastor of the universal Church here on earth. Consequently, by virtue of his office, he has supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the Church, and he can always freely exercise this power.

Imagine Billy Graham times infinity... thats like 1/10th of the pope.

REALLY?!?!?!?!? KICK ASSS!!!!!!

Sad day. I didn't always agree with the Pope, but I always felt he was entirely sincere in his beliefs. This Pope was highly intelligent (spoke an good number of languages) and want dedicated to reparing the rifts cause by the past. He reached out to Jews and Muslims in apologizing for the Crusades. He tried to repair the rift between Catholic and Orthodox Churches. He tried to work for the betterment of man, and even if I didn't think he was right, he was still a great man.

This has gone two pages and nobody has called April Fool's???

well put...

Can't really hate a guy with that history.

(checking appropriate laughter chart...)

HAH! that was funny. Never thought of that. CNN will post a pick of JP2 in the window giving the dual 'hang ten' hands. APRIL FOOLS!!

Seriously, I'm at work and there's nothing on msnbc, cnn, or fox about this. I would think that it would be breaking news by now.

He's still alive, but barely.

Do you think the Pope will get into Heaven? Tupac and Biggie made it, I think....

Winner!

On a more serious note, in response to those who have asked who will succeed JP2 when the time comes (I'm somewhat surprised he didn't resign in the past few years), as I understand it there's a list created by the top cardinals, I assume it's kept fairly secret.

I'm not Catholic, but I lived in Poland for a couple of years, so obviously there was a lot of talk about the pope, and many of my friends were deeply Catholic, and (through their grandmothers) in on church gossip. Anyway, it seems the primary candidates are an Italian and an African (I think their names are known, but not by me). The "good" news about an African pope would be that it would show the increasing diversity of Catholicism, the "bad (or not)" news is that African Catholics (and other Christians) tend to be very conservative, and I believe that this particular guy is no exception.

Here's an article about it.
Link

"I'm somewhat surprised he didn't resign in the past few years"

It's not a position which you can resign from - once elected as Pope, it's for life.

Much like Bud Selig.

Who made those silly rules? What if the Pope got Shiavoed and was in a coma for over 15 years? Can someone remove him then?

Correction: it appears to be possible for a Pope to resign voluntarily, but it's extremely rare (last time it happened was in the 15th century)

JOHN TITOR!!! THE MAN FROM THE FUTURE!!!

The pope will die. John Titor said so.

nope, the pope can't be removed unless he resigns or dies

People can be elected "Bud Selig"?

The FOFC is getting pretty shoddy at acurate reporting these days. You guys in a race we don't know about or something?

Well there are some openings at CBS and people are just getting in the last bit of experience before sending out their resumes. :)

Some folks, at least. ;)

Blame it on Fox News ! I should have stayed with MSNBC.

And there you have it: God's grace is measureable.

Once again, they jump the gun and Shepard has to make an embarassing retraction. I thought they put rules in place for this, or does that only count in elections?

Just been watching MSNBS and Chris Jansing Held a copy of La Stampa(Italian Paper( proclaimng the pope dead. Kinda reminds me of Dewey Defeats Truman.

They did have a Pope removed once (14th-15th century) since he was mentally ill. The cardinals decided to declare him "dead" to remove him from office and replace him but this caused a big rift in the catholic church and no less than four other Popes were elected, competing with each other... This was called "the Great Schism".



I find history like this absolutely fascinating.

some of you must have been the story checkers when bob hope's obituary got posted 3 years too soon :)

Imagine something like this happening today...

First, there is no way it would go on for years. With the way our culture is today it would be all over every channel and paper. We'd get so sick of hearing about it. If something takes a week today it's a long time.

But still imagine a Pope going fruit loops and they'd have him declaired mental and then everything would fall apart with like , 5 different guys claiming to be Pope...

I find it fascinating reading that Popes have led wars and such...

Actually it was only 3 competing Pope's. One in Avignon, where the Papacy had been moved for a while and was attempting to get resurrected as home of the Papacy. One in Rome, when the Italians tried to get the Papacy back, and one in Parma due to a council. The eventual council made all three give up their claims and elected a new Pope.

This period is also refered to as "The Babylonian Captivity" (refering to the French apparently 'stealing' the Papacy - using the term for when the Jews were exiled).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_schism

Oh, and there was no declaration that Urban was dead. Just that they wanted a new Pope. A 'my bad', IOW.

Keith Olberman and MSNBC I feel has the best coverage so far. They are stating that there is a possibleNews Conference. at 12 pn PST.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that immediately thought of this...

Wow, I missed this yesterday. Almost 24 hours later and I am just finding out.....Downside of driving nights, sleeping day, getting home and watching something the Pope wouldn't approve of.

I am technically Catholic, but have never really been to church but a few times, even as a kid. I still do hold the Pope in high regards, despite the fact I do not agree on many of his views. He has been the only Pope of my lifetime just about, becoming the Pope when I was 1, will be odd to see him go.

Damn, Jeebs...that's funny, despite all that has happened. Sorta like my hang ten thoughts above.

Ok, Now it's official that the pope has passed. We were charting in my clinicals when officially the news broke.