Yes Virginia, the Pope really is dead

Okay, the Pope has finally been laid to rest, so why don't we all go back to the business of caring about the living? I wonder how much money was spent by the 4 million people who went to stand in line to view a corpse? What if every person who stood in that line had dropped one dollar (or one euro, one dinar, one franc, etc) into collection baskets, how many meals would that have provided for the hungry? How many homes could it have provided for the homeless? How much further could that money have taken cancer researchers into finding a cure?

Instead, the pious are turning out in droves to mourn one man's death. Where is the morality in this? Why couldn't the pope have stated in his will that there would be a cover charge to view his body, with 100% of the proceeds going to benefit Habitat for Humanity, or a medical research organization?? Do you think the pious would have been so pious if they were asked to part with a few coins in order to view their beloved's body?

The hypocrisy of the media coverage and the pomp and circumstance surrounding the death of the pope, and lately of Terry Schiavo is absolutely obscene in light of the real horrors in this world.