Historical Funeral: Observations and Ramblings

It was interesting to watch bits of the funeral at the Vatican, even from my non-religious vantage point. While my attitude towards it was mostly ambivalent I mostly just watched because of how historical it was. The third longest serving Pope being put to rest, hundreds of world leaders and thousands of civilians crowded into the surrounding streets and plaza.

There was also the "Very low" chance that something unexpected would happen - not exactly a positive thing to do but 2,000,000 people out in the open are an easy target. All it would have taken was one minor breach in security. So it was a realistic possibility however improbable.

That was one of the things that ran through my mind. The immense security there had to have been for that event just by the massive number of international dignitaries in attendance, and the other being the obvious logistics nightmare: Millions of visitors to the city, hundreds of world leaders, all of the latter needed places to stay presumably (while of course the regular folk were not a priority there), food, water, sanitation, parking spaces, temporary berths for the aircraft of dignitaries, and on and on.

Though there was also how bland the majority of the religious precession's garb were, even for most of the cardinals. While a few had more decorative outfits complete with old fashioned crowns that seem rather self-aggrandizing in nature.

The world may have some of the strong points of the pope close at heart right now such as compassion and humility, but that will no doubt be short lived as everyone returns to their own battlegrounds and routines. After all, the funeral was to pay respects to the individual, not to adopt or endorse all of his edicts. But they were pandered to in rosey tributes from political leaders to the talking heads of cable news that will fade away soon enough. Probably not so much so for the actual religious leaders of the church and some other faiths touched profoundly by this in a spiritual way.

A relevant quote: Joseph Stalin is attributed as saying, "The Pope? How many military divisions does he have?" With many states the power to be able to dictate to other countries and to one's own people have rested in their ability to wage war and to force the issue at gunpoint (or missile lock). No one would take the United State's demands seriously if we didn't have a powerful war machine to back it up (not that that is always a deciding factor with other nations). The United Nations is probably at least partially defunct because of their lack of a centralized military force among the political roadblocks all over the place.

The Vatican's power obviously lay in the hearts and minds that currently adhere to (or at least claim that they adhere to) the churches messages and doctrine. It's the only major entity that has survived for centuries with no self defense forces - unless you count the guards boasting medieval outfits and old fashioned close combat weapons. Some of that power lay in god-fearing superstition and the dogma that the cardinal-selected pontiff is infallible given his "holiness."

That's another partially interesting bit - how we promote democracy, while the Vatican is essentially the most peaceful (at least in modern decades) dictatorship around - no doubt because of the lack of a force to indoctrinate at gunpoint and through purges for one (no nations go on armed crusades nowadays for the sake of the church). Seriously, the elite of the church (the college of cardinals) pick one of their own to be the supreme leader for life. And the elite - the cardinals, are appointed by a pope.

It's funny how we have reverence for life in a few occasions, then flagrantly end lives at whim in wars, crime sprees, purges, and listen practically emotionally detached at horrendous death tolls from natural disasters, famine, earthquakes, mudslides, and accidents that get only a passing "that's sad".

I'd say that the whole week or so of the pope's death dominating the news was life changing. But not for me. I didn't see it at work, either. It was just another normal week. Typical antics, and conversations on anything but politics or religion. The world didn't stop for this. Simple as that. It only drastically altered the schedules of the elites.

To me the people I interact with are the ones I find important (duh). Something happening to one of them would affect me far more on an emotional level and maybe philosophical level than this did. We just don't have emotional connections and compassion for every human being (another duh). Maybe our hearts aren't big enough or maybe we're just not righteous enough like the church's pacifist leaders would appear to be. I dunno.