Question about Pope and Embalming

DevonMcBride

I heard the Pope wasn't embalmed. Can someone shed some light on why he wasn't embalmed and how they prevented his body from decaying all week long. Is he on ice?

fairchild

Good question, but I wouldn't know. Looking forward to an answer here..

bttt

A brief mention of that fact in an online news article that I read today said that probably some "disinfectant" was "applied" to the Pope to prevent decay (or keep the flies away -- my thought) and that the bier on which his body was placed was probably also a cooling system to slow the decay.

Ick.

Nina

glitter

He doesn't look anything like he did when he was alive, and his skin looks really strange, like wax - I thought that was because of embalming, so is that just what dead people look like?

Robert K Stock

The cable news network MSNBC reported that the Pope was not embalmed because "saints" bodies are not subject to corruption.

kls

Whatever they did or didn't i just saw a close up picture on the web and his nose is looking like Micheal Jacksons, as in falling apart.

candidlynuts

i figured his display body was a wax dummy and the real body was in a pickle jar in catacombs by now.

the_classicist

Apparently he's been "prepared," not embalmed, read into that what you will.

The cable news network MSNBC reported that the Pope was not embalmed because "saints" bodies are not subject to corruption.

Incorruptibility is only a part sign of holiness of an individual, not a necessary one. Its interesting though, in some of the Eastern European Orthodox churches, incorruptibility is a sign of damnation. An ecclesial curse, when excommunicating, from one of those countries says, "may your bones never dissolve."

Holey_Cheeses*King_of_the juice.

Most interesting. Perhaps another approach has been applied.

When asking a friend of mine what he thought about the death of the pope, he replied - "the pope can go and get stuffed for all I care". And maybe that is just what the vatican did - called in the taxidermists.

Having him on permanent display would be a big drawcard and a huge moneyspinner. Perhaps a world tour could be organised for all those millions who couldn't make it to Rome.

cheeses. If I haven't offend, great. If I have -even better!