Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
came down upon his head --
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
made sure that he was dead.

Also reminds me of the ancient Egyptian opening of the mouth ceremony.

Fox is reporting he's dead right now.

Yes, the Supreme Pontiff has met his Father. He is now in God's hands.

And though I love the Beatles, that was sick.

The silver hammer thing is a myth.

Though I hate to judge Andrew's depiction of this ritual, I think the word "gently" is missing from this description. Here's another description of the process:

Pronouncing the Pope's Death

When a pope passes away, the prefect of the papal household (a cardinal, currently Bishop James Harvey) immediately informs the camerlengo of the pope's death. The camerlengo is the highest-ranking cardinal who, during the pope's lifetime, acts as the papal equivalent of the U.S. Secretary of State. The current camerlengo is Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo.

Upon the pope's death, temporary authority passes into the hands of the camerlengo and the College of Cardinals. The period during which the papal office is vacant is known as the sede vacante ("vacant seat").

The camerlengo's first job is to confirm the pope's death with a traditional ceremony. He gently raps the pontiff's forehead with a silver mallet and calls the pope by his birth name (the current pope's name is Karol Józef Wojtyla) three times. If the pontiff does not respond by the third time, he is pronounced dead. In modern times, the pope's personal physician is actually called in first to make an official pronouncement of death, then the camerlengo performs the ceremonial pronouncement.

Next, the camerlengo directs the issuance of a death certificate and removes the pope's ceremonial ring, the Ring of the Fisherman. Worn by all popes in the last 800 years, the Fisherman's Ring is a gold ring bearing an image of St. Peter casting his net from a boat, encircled by the current pope's name. It is a symbol of the pope's authority, and will be destroyed later at a meeting of the cardinals.

Autopsies are not performed on popes and no one may film or photograph the pope's body (recording his last words is also prohibited). The camerlengo may, however, authorize a photograph for documentary purposes once the pope has been dressed in full papal garments.

The prefect of the papal household then informs the Dean of the College of Cardinals of the pope's death. It is the Dean's job to tell the other cardinals and then the heads of all the nations the news. Of course, when the current pope dies, most people will hear the news through the media well before this formal procedure is completed. All cardinals (most of whom are archbishops in their home country) are to come to Vatican City as soon as possible after hearing the news.

This ceremony strikes me of one of great beauty and grace, and not one of brute force. One can take an interest in this, regardless of his or her faith, and see a great tradition still kept in tact, handed down for hundreds of years. It's this sort of thing that some Catholics find appealing.

Yes, Andrea, I found a link to an article regarding that the silver mallet is no longer in use.

...but the Camerlengo no longer strikes the head of the pope with a silver mallet.

But I was hesitant to post it because, well, "www.italiansrus.com" didn't sound too...authoritative. The guy that wrote the article seems to have some decent background, however.

Who knows? The mallet, silver or something else, is a ritual, not a means of smashing someone's skull. Not that anyone implied such a thing, but "strikes the forehead of the dead pope three times with a silver mallet" sounds a bit violent. And this doesn't seem violent.

it gives me some solace when I think of my wonderful grandpa .. He died a day before Audrey Hepburn. I like to think that he's out there somewhere hanging with Audrey Hepburn .. (and that my equally beloved Grandma's not cursing him out too terribly much)

I am not a Catholic, but I think it is awesome that maybe the poor Schindler family, reportedly devout Catholics, can derive some comfort from the thought that Terri is in very good company. Especially after the terrible crime that was perpetrated against her (and them).

:)

The Vatican Web site has a splendid summary of JPII's life and wisdom.

Since I have nothing going on in my life, go here (I did) and try to find "hammer" or even "pope" outside of the document title. Vatican II doesn't appear to have covered this sort of stuff.

http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/

Now, that's the Vatican's site, so I'd say it's authoritative. Here's a site with the titles in english just to make it easier.

http://www.rc.net/rcchurch/vatican2/

And Snopes says it's not sure at this time.

http://www.snopes.com/religion/hammer.asp

FACT CHECKING! HOLY SHIT I'M A JOURNALIST!