The Pope is displayed in his coffin ⚰

What an ignominious thing to do to a man who has simply done his best to serve God and Holy Mother Church. He was a soft spoken man who struggled a little with languages he had not spoken in his home country, and although he tried he was not the scholar that his predecessor was.

My father says that to a degree he was like the man who inspired many when he led us into Vatican Two, Pope John. A simple man who took on his duties as a priest and prince of the Church in humility and with a sense of service, a responsibility to his flock wherever they were.

It is a shame that people are so needy, that their lives lack anything that is deep and satisfying and they are carried away by the breeze of human suffering. I expect the queues to see him will extend far out from Vatican City prior to his funeral on Saturday.

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dale74 · M

Having been alive for three popes starting with John Paul II and soon for popes I really like to jump all the seconds loving good works and overall leading of the Catholic Church. I enjoyed Pope Benedict I think he was forced out before his time I did lot more of the traditional values that Benedict brought back to the church with some of the Latin and trying to reunify the church.
Although I did not agree with Francis on many of his decisions I think he was still a good man who had experience that you have in a area where the church is persecuted. I believe he was a giving Pope. There are certain fractions of the Catholic Church at least here in America such as the Latin right that he tried to shut down entirely. That particular branch of the Catholic Church at least here where I live are very devout Catholics they prefer their mass in Latin and they prefer the Gregorian chants and prayers. They are the few Catholic families that still have 6 to 10 children normally the mother stays home and their father provides for the family.
In certain diocese they have literally shut that fraction with the Catholic Church totally down forcing them to move luckily here where I live our Pope doesn't necessarily like them but he doesn't stop them. They are one of the reasons we still have as many Catholic churches as we do their priests will also do regular masses in the native language or Spanish. They're parishioners will take care of the church buildings that the regular parish could not afford anymore.
It'll be interesting to watch who is chosen as the new pope through the conclave.

ElRengo · 70-79, M

Yes, he was a man of heart.
He trully enjoyed the simple things of the common man and his heart were with them cos he was one of them.

True and even being a Jesuit, he was not a Herr Professor Doktor like his predecessor was.

On languages, something unusual: even not being fluid at it, he understood quite well Guarani.
That´s because he used to have interactions with the Paraguayan community en Argentina.

And yes, he had in mind Pope John XXXIII and John Paul I.

He was a loved one

LeopoldBloom · M

I'm not sure anyone views it as "ignominious." Open casket funerals allow people to pay their respects directly to the person, instead of to a fancy box. That being said, the open casket funerals I've attended were more than a little creepy.

SomeMichGuy · M

Yes, John XXIII was very much cherished in my childhood after his death and long before his beatification (in 2000; this renewed interest in him).

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