Pope on a Rope

I heard the Pope wasn't embalmed. Excuse me? You have parishioners and Heads of States paying homage to a literally rotting corpse? How is this spiritual? If you're going to lay a guy out for a week, you have a responsibility to do it wisely.

Pope or no Pope, human bodies decay when the blood stops being pumped through it. (Contrary to popular belief, the Pope was flesh and blood just like the rest of us.) I hope to God no flies have gotten into the church. It's going to be hard to explain to the masses why maggots are crawling out of the Pope's eyes. And let's not even talk about gases, okay. They build up, no matter if the body is in the woods or lying on a table dressed in finery. Those gases are going to have to come out sometime. Usually, they follow the path of least resistance and go through a hole that's already there. However, if that hole is, um, blocked, they'll find another route. Usually, by exploding through the stomach. WHat's going to happen when they move his body? KA-BLOOEY! Yeah, let's have that happen. Let's not even go into what happens to skin when one dies. I know the Pope was old and leathery, but it is just barbaric to have his face rot off in front of spectators.

This is 2005, people, not the middle ages. Embalm the guy already. He's dead, he doesn't care. But to subject hundreds if not thousands of people to the dangers of a rotting corpse is asinine, even for Catholics.