(My comments are in bold print.)

Pope Reveals He Took (STOLE)His Late Confessor's Cross
VATICAN CITY March 6, 2014 (AP)
By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/pope-reveals-late-confessors-cross-22796088

Pope Francis confessed Thursday that he took the rosary cross of his late confessor from his casket and wears it to this day in a fabric pouch under his cassock. He said he did so telling the late priest, "Give me half your mercy." (Keep in mind, he was already DEAD when he supposedly "told" the priest this.)

Francis made the revelation Thursday during an informal chat with Roman priests about the need to be merciful to their flocks. He told the story of the "great confessor" of Buenos Aires who had heard confessions from most of the diocesan priests as well as from Pope John Paul II when he visited Argentina.

When the priest died, Francis went to pray by his open casket and was stunned that no one had brought any flowers.

"This man forgave the sins of all the priests of Buenos Aires, but not a single flower ...?" Francis recalled. So he went out and bought a bouquet of roses, and when he returned to arrange them around the casket, he saw the rosary the priest still held in his hand. (So he took the rosary, in return for his flower gesture... Franny was nice enough to bring the only flowers at this priest's funeral, so he figured he could just take the rosary.)

"And immediately there came to mind the thief we all have inside ourselves and while I arranged the flowers I took the cross and with just a bit of force I removed it," he said, showing with his hands how he pulled the cross off the rosary. "And in that moment I looked at him and I said 'Give me half your mercy.'"

Francis said he kept the cross in his shirt pocket for years, but that the cassock he wears now as pope doesn't have a pocket. He now keeps it in a little pouch underneath.

"And whenever a bad thought comes to mind about someone, my hand goes here, always," he said, gesturing to his heart. "And I feel the grace, and that makes me feel better." (Can't we always tell grace by "feelings?"  :rolleyes: )


That's actually called stealing from the dead, isn't it? People get thrown in jail or fined for this stuff here.

http://www.texomashomepage.com/story/man-sentenced-for-stealing-ring-from-body-in-caske/d/story/Aq-nfIYcDUSsSZxUmAP4uQ

A Wichita Falls man convicted of stealing Jєωelry off a body at a funeral home won't have to spend time behind bars.

Steven Swanson was found guilty of theft from a person or human corpse.

He's sentenced to five years deferred adjudication.

He'll also have to pay a $750 dollar fine plus $500 dollars in restitution to the victim's family.

Employees at a funeral home off 300 East Cash in Iowa Park say a man came there asking to go to the bathroom and then left.

They say a widow of a deceased person later went to the funeral home and noticed her late husband's ring and watch were missing.

Employees say they looked at the ledger in the deceased man's room and saw the name Steve Swanson.

Police later interviewed Swanson who admitted to the theft.

Right in my own backyard this happened with a guitar.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/09/26/cemetery-worker-charged-with-stealing-guitar-from-casket/


Cemetery Worker Charged With Stealing Guitar From Casket
Published September 26, 2011
Associated Press


ALLOUEZ, Wis. –  A grounds superintendent at a Green Bay area cemetery has been accused of stealing a $2,000 guitar from the casket of a man who died recently.

WLUK-TV reported Steve Conard, 39, was charged Monday with theft of moveable property from a corpse.

The dead man's family confirmed the Fender Telecaster guitar was in the casket Thursday afternoon, when it was being moved from the funeral home to the Allouez Catholic Cemetery's mausoleum, according to Brown County sheriff's investigators.

A cemetery employee later overheard Conard talking about the guitar, the sheriff's department said in a news release.

"That's a Telly, a really expensive guitar. I have to have that guitar. It's too expensive to be in a crypt," the employee quoted Conard as saying.

The suspicious employee looked in the casket Friday morning, and the guitar was missing.

During questioning on Saturday, Conard told investigators, "This isn't something I normally do; I just have a respect for fine musical instruments," according to sheriff's department.

Deputies found the guitar in his home, the department said.

The suspect's employer, the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, said the man is on unpaid leave pending the result of the criminal investigation.

The guitar was returned to the family and the man and his guitar were entombed in a crypt in an interior mausoleum Saturday, diocese deacon Ray DuBois said.

No current listing could be found for Conard on Monday, and no attorney was listed in online court records.

I suppose even employees of the diocese pick off dead people.

http://www.wqow.com/story/15618534/eau-claire-woman-accused-of-stealing-ring-from-body-in-casket

Eau Claire woman accused of stealing ring from body in casket
Posted: Oct 04, 2011 9:37 PM CDT
By Keith Edwards

Eau Claire (WQOW) - Police say a local woman admitted stealing from a casket out of spite.

Patricia Woodford, from Eau Claire, allegedly pulled the ring off the finger of the body of an 84-year-old woman.  Family members say the gold wedding band disappeared after the visitation at a Menomonie funeral home.

The family made an offer for the ring to be returned anonymously.  When nothing happened, police took over.  They say Woodford eventually confessed that it seemed like a waste for the ring to be buried with the body, so she took it.  Investigators also say she told them the woman had treated Woodford's brother poorly and she was angry about that.

Woodford was in court on Tuesday on a charge of felony theft.



So what do you think? I think this should be seen as theft as everyone else sees it. Just because Franny did it, doesn't mean it's okay.

Yeah, I am sure the only thing he kept was the crucifix.

I am sure he did not slip a ring off his finger or a watch off his wrist while he was at it.

I don't think I have it in me to approach a dead body and start going through pockets and taking whatever I want.

Reminds me of the horror novel "The Other" where a 12yo boy cuts off the finger of his dead twin while he is in a casket in order to help himself to a ring the boy's dad had given him. In the end the boy kills a baby. Oh, and the twin died when he fell in a well while trying to hang his grandmother's cat. Just makes you wonder what Francis has done that he will take to his grave.

All of the humbleness is just to draw attention to himself and to gain popularity.  He is simply a narcissistic liberal/communist creep.  This story demonstrates that and makes me want to vomit--stealing from the dead!!

Contrast what you wrote with --

"And whenever a bad thought comes to mind about someone, my hand goes here, always," he said, gesturing to his heart.

 :dancing-banana:
I heard this story on Thursday, but thought it was someone's idea of a joke.
 :surprised:

This is the Catholic faith in action, in case it's news to you.

 Are those who have taken pieces of saints' bodies any better than Francis, who took not a piece of a man's body, nor an article of personal Jєωelry, but merely a crucifix off of his rosary?

Yes, they are better than Francis as a matter of fact. Francis knew he was committing larceny. He concealed the theft. If you were at a funeral and saw someone reach into the casket and remove a personal item from the body, what would you do ?

The people who removed pieces of the saints body in your example actually had custody of the body and did so legitimately.  

Quote

This is the Catholic faith in action, in case it's news to you.

 Are those who have taken pieces of saints' bodies any better than Francis, who took not a piece of a man's body, nor an article of personal Jєωelry, but merely a crucifix off of his rosary?

Yes, they are better than Francis as a matter of fact. Francis knew he was committing larceny. He concealed the theft. If you were at a funeral and saw someone reach into the casket and remove a personal item from the body, what would you do ?

The people who removed pieces of the saints body in your example actually had custody of the body and did so legitimately.  

The thing that stands out here is how fast some are to pass judgment on the Pope.  It's like they're standing in line waiting for the next opportunity to attack him.  

If he really "concealed the theft" "as a matter of fact," then why did he admit to having taken this crucifix?  Is that "concealment?"  

It might seem a little bit strange to demand of a deceased man, "Give me half your mercy," and to pull the crucifix off his rosary (why not just take the whole rosary, if you're going to take something??).  These were not strangers, but the deceased was Francis' confessor.  If Francis had gone through legal channels to obtain the crucifix and had spent maybe $2,000 in legal fees, then you'd be okay with that, correct?  Or would you still be looking for something to criticize?

This is a man who needs our prayers.  I find it rather evident that everyone who is on the criticism bandwagon is not praying for the pope.  If you were praying for him, as Catholics have been doing* since day one, you wouldn't have the unstoppable urges to denounce his every foible.  No one so much as sent flowers for this priest's funeral, so who would have cared about his rosary?  As it is, the crucifix of this rosary has now earned international attention, not because it was taken, but because it's having been taken is a story that Francis has told for everyone to hear.  

Do you think the "right thing to do" would be to exhume the priest's body and replace the crucifix onto the detached rosary?  And maybe the Pope should do some jail time for having committed a "crime?"  Would that be justice served, for all the world to see?

Would this be a better world after that "justice" for some reason?



*Catholics have been praying for the Pope and offering penances for the Pope since the very dawn of the Church.  Popes have granted specific indulgences for the added intention and works of prayers for the Pope.  God is very pleased with our prayers for the Pope, and the Pope is able to be a better pope when we pray for him.  We also receive graces for this.  Everyone wins.  On the other hand, nobody wins when we hunt down every excuse in sight to denounce him and to criticize what he does and what he says.  Nobody wins, then, but rather, everyone loses.  


.

In the grand scheme of things, this is very minor and probably not much of an issue at all. But with everything else that he has done, this is just more fuel to the fire. I expect to pick up the NYT or some other main stream liberal rag and read the headline, "Pope says it's OK to Steal!"

Telling this story would have been a good chance to give a sermon about confession and how even the Pope sins and needs the sacrament of confession, but instead, he comes off as bragging about this.

And for the record...I do pray for Francis's conversion every day!

The thing that stands out here is how fast some are to pass judgment on the Pope.  It's like they're standing in line waiting for the next opportunity to attack him.

I agree.  And that's coming from someone who thinks that the Holy See is most likely vacant.