02 April 2005

The Pope Fades Away CNN is in full Papal death-watch mood, all day long. They have been planning this for years; I think I read 5 or so years ago that they (and other networks) had booked camera positions etc. Christiane Amanpour and all the other correspondents are on site, a galaxy of doctors and priests are available to comment, over and over again, and the carefully-prepared backgrounders are being aired. All very moving, if long drawn-out. It is, after all, the first Papal transition since the arrival of 24-hour TV. Here is a more cynical view of what is going on in the media. The Guardian has a Pope Special Report with lots of content, including this retrospective. And soon we move on to the mysteries of the Conclave, and once again to be covered by 24-hour TV, watching for puffs of white smoke, live on CNN. I recall that it took several days on previous occasions - how different will it be this time? I recall the election of John Paul II: I was at an intensive 2-week class at IBM's La Hulpe training centre in Belgium, and so many things were happening during that time: the Camp David negotiations that led to peace between Israel and Egypt, the beginnings of the Iranian revolution which led to the reign of the Ayatollahs, and the conclave in Rome, all made more immediate by the fact that among the 23 countries represented on the course, we had IBMers from Israel, Egypt, Iran and of course, many Catholics from many countries. I have posted about this previously, on the occasion of Jimmy Carter getting the Nobel Peace Prize. I couldn't help thinking about it this morning, and about the very strange and short reign of John Paul I, not mentioned in any of the coverage today (except here), but many people believe he was murdered. One wonders how different the world would be if he had not passed away. Breaking News. The Pope has just died. Here is the BBC Obituary. And the official Vatican Announcement. 10:19:57 PM    comment []

More Dark Memories 24 hours after the death of Terri Schiavo sparked morbid reminiscences, the Pope seems to be dying from the same sequence of things that nearly killed me: high fever resulting from urinary tract infection, septic shock leading to multiple organ failure and a downward spiral. Listening to the parade of medical specialists discussing his condition on CNN, reinforces how lucky I was to come through it. 12:40:48 AM    comment []