Pope Pius died in 1914. Here at his canonization ceremony at St. Peter's in the Vatican in 1954 his body was perfectly incorrupt.
Embalming the popes
 Commentary by Todd W. Van Beck, president of Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service in Houston, Texas. Van Beck has written and spoken about a wide variety of funeral topics, including the historical role of the funeral and funeral director. Van Beck is a licensed funeral director and embalmer and is dean of ICFA University's College of Funeral and Commemorative Services. He can be reached at 281.873.0262 and at tvanbeck@yahoo.com.
With all the attention given to the embalming of the pontiff and the fuss and flurry over the techniques employed, the endless questions, the speculations as to this and that and the opinions of the experts, I was struck that so little attention was given to the history of embalming the popes, and also to the mysterious and captivating subject of the incorruptibles in the Roman Catholic Church.
What tradition?
Let us begin with some history about the embalming of the popes. I was very interested to watch the American news media declare that the "tradition" of embalming the popes was halted when Pope John Paul II died.
Again and again, the news media reported that the Italian firm of Signoracci had embalmed the three previous pontiffs, but not Pope John Paul II. When I saw the photograph of Massimo Signoracci, the firm's present-day embalmer, standing in his preparation room, from the expression on his face you'd have thought someone had shot his dog. My first thought was, "Has this man never lost a call before?" He looked so lost and forlorn. His family's "tradition" of embalming the popes had been violated. I thought, "What tradition?"
What constitutes a tradition in the United States is worlds apart from what constitutes one in the Roman Catholic Church. The United States is 229 years old, while the church is 1,900+ years old. The United States has had 43 presidents, while the Roman Catholic Church can attest to 265 popes, back to St. Peter himself. The embalming of three popes does not constitute a tradition within the Roman Catholic Church.
In fact, the history of the papacy is that up until just 100 years ago-a blink of an eye in church history-the popes were usually eviscerated upon death. Their organs were placed in a special vault in a church in Rome and/or, along with relics of the dead pope, were sent to various churches, monasteries, cathedrals and basilicas across the globe.
The Roman Catholic Church's history shows clearly that it places high importance on the relics of saints and religious leaders. For instance, St. Teresa of Avila's head is in one church, her feet are each in separate churches and her hair has been dispersed across the globe.
In summary: The "traditional" method of of caring for the pope's remains does not included embalming.
Click here to proceed to the next section: The incorruptibles
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Copyright ICFA 2005
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