Some first impressions.

Before the bigger essay later. This is a sick day, as both The Eldest™ and The Boy™ are ill.
Exorcist ill, complete with the projectile vomiting. Some of it hitting your humble blog host. The upshot is that Heather and I have had about five solid ours of sleep in the past 48. In other words, if what you are reading looks like Esperanto, apologies. By the time you read this, I may have started my own homage to Linda Blair's signature role.

1. Heather said the Holy Father's body looked unnerving. I agree, and that, too, is a tribute to him. Even in his weakness--his very weakest--he was fully alive. You only notice that witness now that he's gone.

2. The press coverage has been pretty solid: Foxnews and MSNBC mostly. Jesse Jackson had a very good week in my book, saying in a Fox interview late Saturday night "Thank God for this Pope." I wanted to watch Mark Brumley on Saturday, too, but they had him paired with the Rev. Drinan. We have only one TV, and I didn't want to end up changing the channel a la Elvis. Yesterday evening, Fox had Janet Smith and Christopher West, and Geraldo didn't talk over them. Wonder of wonders.

3. The music employed by the Church, and used in the bumpers for the coverage, which is much different from the Sunday Catholic worship norm. The reason? We are talking about death and resurrection right now. Whatever the virtues of most modern popular Catholic worship music, it is not generally about those subjects.

Which says a lot, when you think about it.

4. "The Holy Spirit Elects the Pope" meme needs to be retired, pronto. The Holy Spirit protects the Church. It's hard to imagine Him positively gifting us with the likes of Alexander VI, or one of the other bad popes. The difference may be subtle, but it's important.