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.
