Ex-Pope Benedict XVI and Maxwell's Silver Hammer

By Jack Brummet, ATIT Religion Ed.

A most fascinating facet of the abdication of Pope Benedict XVI is hearing stories of the silver hammer, and the destruction of the Papal ring.   And the awesome fact that the deliberations and voting by the Cardinals for the new Pope occur in The Sistine Chapel.  "At the deathbed of the pope the camerlengo takes a silver hammer and lightly taps on the pope's forehead three times, calling him by his Christian name. When there is no reply, he announces to those present that the pope is dead. The camerlengo also removes the Fisherman's Ring from the Pope's finger. At the first meeting of the Sacred College the ring and papal seals are broken." The camerlengo is the chamberlain of the church, who takes over the administration of the RC church in the interregnum between popes.  The expired Pope's staff are immediately shuffled out of office, powerless and out of the loop.

It was only tonight that I put two and two together and realized that this Roman Catholic ritual was [probably] what inspired The Beatles's song "Maxwell's Silver Hammer":

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Pope Benedict XVI: "I screwed up"

Noted Sex Expert Pope Benedict XVI says that "sex can become like a drug"

My friend Daryle Conners meets the Pope shortly before
she interviewed him for her Vatican II documentary

Pope Benedict XVI admitted on Saturday that the Vatican's teaching against birth control was difficult as he praised a 1968 Church document that condemned contraception.

In a speech marking the 40th anniversary of the document, Benedict reiterated the Church's ban against artificial birth control as well as more recent teaching against using artificial procreation methods.

"What was true yesterday remains true even today [Pope Paul VI's 1968 "Humanae vitae]. The truth expressed in 'Humanae vitae' doesn't change; on the contrary, in the light of new scientific discoveries, it is ever more up to date," the pope added. "No mechanical technique can substitute the act of love that two married people exchange as a sign of a greater mystery," Benedict said.

Il Papa expressed concern that human life risks losing its value in today's culture and worried that sex could "transform itself into a drug" that one partner had to have even against the will of the other. Did he learn this from studies, or from the histories of his minions, the Priests?
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