A Suggestion Re: the Pope's Passing

Some four million people are expected to hit Rome this week to see the Pope's dead body (and frankly, I have to admit I'm getting a little creeped out seeing his lifeless repose 400 times a day). The media has presented countless interviews with people who dropped everything to beg and borrow money, max out credit cards, etc. to get there. Surprisingly, lots of them aren't Catholic. Lots profess they are there to be part of history. I'm sure what part they think they play but... whatever.

I did a check of short-booked flights to Rome last night and $500 round trip is one of the best prices I saw - mind you, I didn't look extensively but there were far more in the $700-$1,000 ballpark and yes, we're talking coach). This assumes you won't eat or rent a hotel room (and in fact, most of the great minds doing this seem to think they'll be put up for free).

Now imagine the amount of good that three million people (assuming a million actual Catholics who deeply feel the obligation to go will go anyway) each contributing $500-$1,000 to real programs providing real support of reach causes in real Catholic countries. For example, the greatest concentration of Catholics is in Latin America (4-5 of every 10 Catholics was born or lives there). This is not generally a very wealthy part of the world. If you want to believe that the Pope was a great man and that he truly supported the poor people of the world, it would seem a MUCH better way to honor his life to soend that money on people in desperate need in Catholic countries than to go stand on line to view his worldly shell.