From the Guardian:
He has carried an organ transplant card faithfully for years, but Joseph Ratzinger's election to the papacy has ruled him out as an organ donor, the Vatican has revealed.
Instead of providing a liver or kidney to a needy recipient, pope Benedict's body will belong to the church when he dies, said one Vatican official, who suggested that veneration of the pontiff's remains would be complicated if they were not all in the same place.
....
Vincenzo Passarelli, the president of the Italian association of organ donors, said he was very surprised by the Vatican's decision.
"If he decides to give up an organ, does that mean the rest of his body no longer belongs to the church?" he said. "Organ donation is a noble act and if the pope donated to a Muslim or a Jew, it would become a truly universal act."
Passarelli admitted that if a papal organ was transplanted, the recipient might risk becoming the object of veneration. "But once an organ is transplanted, it immediately becomes part of another person.
"You cannot say that Antonio, for instance, has the pope's kidney – at that point it is just Antonio's kidney."
Down the rabbit hole into Sillyland. Imagine being the walking venerated because of having one of the pope's organs. The whole practice of body-part veneration is beyond ridiculous.
Thanks to Lapin for the link.
It's hysterical!
ReplyDelete(GASP)
ReplyDeleteAn idea for a thriller novel.
ReplyDeleteImagine the recipient of the papal liver or kidneys re-selling them for a profit. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised to read that he is registered as an organ donor.
ReplyDeleteIt's hysterical!
ReplyDeleteWell, Ratzinger was never going to donate his uterus, Margaret. ;-p
wv, "decense": when the incense cloud finally comes down...
Paul (A.), I yield to Pharyngula.
ReplyDeleteIf you click on the link, be sure to have a look at the comments.
Lapin, the possibilities are endless.
The consequences of transplanted papal gonads being used for procreation are complex.
ReplyDelete"decense": when the incense cloud finally comes down...
ReplyDeleteLOL, JCF.
Complex, indeed, Lapin.
Y'all crack me up.
The RC is more outrageous by the day ... maybe by the hour!
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I think the Pope's organs are too old for transplant. As to his gonads or his heart - You know the old saying, "Use 'em or lose 'em."
ReplyDeletewhiteycat, indeed. You think you've heard it all and seen it all, and - whoops! - there's another one.
ReplyDeleteYes, susan, the pope is older than I am, and I doubt anyone would want my organs, although I still have my donor card. None of my body parts will be left to venerate except ashes, which I will want spread around.
Your reminder of the old saying is brilliant and apropos in this instance.
In the Middle Ages this was a big concern - if you believed in the resurrection of the body - what happened when you got to heaven but a dog had eaten your leg (or whatever) - would you get it back or would you be one-legged for all eternity. Many paintings show this dilemma - Caroline Walker Bynum writes about this in her book Fragmentation and Redemption
ReplyDeleteAnn, I'm not familiar with Bynum's writings, but I grew up with this sort of angels-dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin speculation and discussion, and I usually try to simplify things. If you can believe that a dead, decomposed body can be resurrected, then what's the problem in believing in the restoration of a leg eaten by a dog?
ReplyDeleteI'm reminded of the folks who accept that Jesus is God/human, but draw the line at the virgin birth. I don't understand the difficulty.
Look what I found in the link to an interview with Caroline Bynum:
Bynum: There is, of course, a lot of anthropological and sociological theory about why food is so important in constituting communities. Excluding from the table is a major way of indicating who is the “out” group. Those you eat with are the “in” group. The sharing of food is a sharing of community and a sharing of self.
How apt for the Anglican Communion today.
Ann, are you saying that the thinking of people in the Middle Ages and people of today who are concerned about such things as body parts after death perhaps ought not to be ridiculed but engaged with more seriously? If so, and after reading the entire interview with Bynum, I think you may have a point.
ReplyDeleteBTW, the interview is splendid and makes me want to read her books.
Re incense clouds:
ReplyDeleteMy parish in NYC (Manhattan), St Matthew & St Timothy, was very Anglo-Catholic, and used incense every week.
One fine warm Spring day (probably May), a door had been opened in the sanctuary, to let some air in.
At the Eucharist, the strangest thing happened: after the priest incensed the altar, the incense cloud collected in a distinct horizontal band, straight through the sanctuary (maybe about a foot tall?).
When I first saw it (probably as a result of daylight hitting it, from the open door), the band was about waist high. The band then---w/o losing integrity---ROSE up our bodies, over our heads, and broke!
Weird . . . and strangely delightful! Our God is an Awesome God, of Awesome Air-Pressure Inversions! (or some such ;-/).
***
Gratuitous plug: speaking of Popoid weirdness, go see what I said re "the New Translation of the Mass", over at Episcopal Cafe/The Lead (I talk about Teh Revealing Krazy I saw on EWTN last night)
JCF, the rising and breaking incense cloud sounds somewhat like an epiphany to me.
ReplyDeleteI'll go see your comment.