Pope John Paul II dies

[atheist]

84-year-old pontiff, head of the Catholic Church, died today April 2 2005 at 2:37 ET after battling Parkinson's disease, infection and a failing heart.

[Believer]

84-year-old pontiff, head of the Catholic Church, died today April 2 2005 at 2:37 ET after battling Parkinson's disease, infection and a failing heart.

Atheist,

Don't mean to be rude, but do you, being an atheist, have ANY sympathy for him as a religious leader and a GREAT man or do you just think of him as a hunk of meat that is PERMANENTLY dead and has no afterlife?

[AttentionKMartShoppers]

I think he might have been just reporting on something that is seems important to at least the media and Catholics....

[Darwin_Rocks]

I wonder if any of the major news networks will cover the election of the new Pope. I read that Angels and Demons book by Dan Brown and since have had an interest in the ceremony.

[AttentionKMartShoppers]

How does the ceremony goes, and what seems so interesting about them? All I know is smoke is involved....I think.

[Mastermind]

They sacrifice atheists. True story.

[AttentionKMartShoppers]

OK, who let Mastermind out of his cage....


That was funny by the way....

[Dan]

120 cardinals from all over the world will come to Rome and vote on the new pontif. This happens 25-30 days after the earlier Pope has left us. They will have intercessions of prayer and voting on the new pope, each time a supermajority (2/3 of the vote) fails to be reached, the ballots will be mixed with chemicals and burned so the smoke is black, this means the pope has not been chosen yet. After each failed vote, the cardinals will have a session of prayer and discussion for spiritual guidance, then they will vote again.

After many cycles of this process, if the pope is not selected, the supermajority requirement is dropped and the candidate with the most votes is elected pope. When he is selected, the ballots are burned to produce white smoke, the pope has been chosen.

[AttentionKMartShoppers]

If these cardinals are really seeking God's will, and not there own, why isn't there a 100% vote for one pope, and why must they revote until they give up and pick the guy with the most popularity?

[Mastermind]

I don't know, but I'm sure they're willing to reconsider the entire process since your Highness is unsatisifed with it.

[Dan]

The Lord doesn't make every intention of His clear-cut after the Bible. The cardinals know God's will, they just think there are certain ones amongst them that would carry it out better than others.

Also God has a hand in choosing the Pope, the circumstances surrounding Karol's rise to the Papacy (and then being named John Paul II) are extraordinary and pretty cool.

[AttentionKMartShoppers]

I don't know, but I'm sure they're willing to reconsider the entire process since your Highness is unsatisifed with it.

Take a laxative and run off Mastermind.

[Darwin_Rocks]

Maybe they should scrap that old ceremony and replace it with one that entire world can enjoy...

POTENTIAL PONTIFF DEATH SPORTS!

Think about it, all the potential popes go into a huge ring and fight to the death, the winner is the last man standing.

An array of weapons could scatter the arena as well, Samurai Sword, pieces of wood with nails sticking out of them...The possibilities are endless.

[Dan]

Maybe they should scrap that old ceremony and replace it with one that entire world can enjoy...

POTENTIAL PONTIFF DEATH SPORTS!

Think about it, all the potential popes go into a huge ring and fight to the death, the winner is the last man standing.

An array of weapons could scatter the arena as well, Samurai Sword, pieces of wood with nails sticking out of them...The possibilities are endless.

Get thee behind me Darwin.

[Mastermind]

Or maybe they can put Kmart in the middle of the ring, and each cardinal makes a YEC joke, points at him and laughs. The cardinal with the joke that finally makes Kmart cry wins.