Major Variola (ret) > It would be very cool karma if the Pope were to > be vegetative but indefinately prolongable (thanks > of course to the fruits of the scientific method > which is the antiPope). One imagines this will > eventually happen. Or are there rules to replace > a useless Pope? Does Alexander Haig get to be > interim Pope?
This is a nightmare scenario for the Vatican. There is no legal route to remove a living Pope, and there are certain documents required for the running of the Church which can be signed *only* by the pontiff. A vegetable Pope would basicly lock up the mechanisms of the Church. I have no doubt that a lot of Canon Law lawyers are trying to find a loophole at the moment. JP2 is clearly circling the drain. Peter Trei