Here's what happens when the Pope Dies.

I wonder if they still strike him over the head with a hammer three times?

www.daughtersofstpaul.com...

encarta.msn.com...

www.ewtn.com...

camerlengo (chamberlain) officially confirms his death

Funeral rites last nine days

Popes are laid to rest in the crypt underneath St. Peter's Basilica

The conclave to elect a new pope starts in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel between 15 and 20 days after the death

120 cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote. They need a majority of at least two-thirds plus one to elect him

The world will know a pope has been elected when an official burns the paper ballots with special chemicals to make white smoke pour out of the Chapel's chimney

Soon afterwards, the dean of the College of Cardinals steps on to the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica to announce to the crowds in the square "Habemus Papam" ("We have a Pope").



[edit on 4/1/05 by andrew817]

I'm sure they still do, the church is built oh such rituals. I'm sure there are many more strange things that will be going on that we will not know about. I wonder...

Originally posted by andrew817
I wonder if they still strike him over the head with a hammer three times?

Dead pope will not be hammered.

"As recently as 40 years ago, the Camerlengo did this by tapping the pope's head three times with a small hammer and shouting his family name close to his ear, but that colorful ritual is not mentioned in the 1996 revisions made by Pope John Paul II to streamline the process, and referred to by the opening Latin words of the document as "Universi Domini Gregis..." -- The shepherd of the Lord's whole flock... "


www.freerepublic.com...

Yeh, they give him three good raps about the head just to make sure he is dead. Funny thing isn't it? Dying then being hit in the head. Just like everything else in the Roaman Catholic religon, there are many more little secret rights I hear we do not even know about. I'm sure that they do have a secret handshake that is only known to a select few. Anyway, I hope he does'nt have to linger in near death like the girl down in Florida.