to think taking photos of someone in a coffin is the height of disrespect?

[SnoozingFox]

Totally understand that for Catholics this is a very sad time and many of them wish to pay their respects by filing past the coffin in St Peter's.

SO many people in footage just shown on the news taking photos on their phones. I mean. WTF?

Their culture and normal for them.
When I worked at the hospital, one of my porter colleagues mentioned the mum of a deceased patient who took a long time to sort a funeral, so their deceased relative was in our hospital fridge for a long time. They came to visit a lot, and sadly their relative looked worse every time. Not embalmed, so they started to discolour, lips pulled back etc.

Hadn't realised you meant the Pope. Taking photos is disrespectful I think, but many devout Catholics may think differently. I asked my DD to take a photo of my late DH in his coffin.

As horrible as someone posing for a photo of signing a book of condolences. My MP has apparently done that today..

It seems as if the Vatican are now enforcing a ‘no pictures’ request, saying that “…taking pictures is not in the best of taste”

Vatican asks visitors not to take pictures of Pope in coffin

https://www.thetimes.com/article/e08b4bd5-8201-4167-affd-02881c205a32?shareToken=630041ecd390abf298b6068f8fdf498f

So not cultural then

I think taking pictures of the pope is distasteful, people should just know that FFS. I'm glad the Vatican are asking people not to but of course they will.

I've had two close relatives die. One I was with, one I wasn't. I came back to see my relative a few hours after their death and it was so clear they were gone, their soul was gone, just a shell. It gave me enormous comfort. The other was a traumatic death, I never got to see them and I really struggled with accepting their death.

On a slightly funny note. In Ireland, the open coffin can lead to some right gossip. Oh she didn't look great at all did she, I've seen her look way better, he looked lovely etc. I'm shutting mine anyway, don't intend to be judged in death!!

Followed by a photo of the Pope in his coffin...

Both my grandmother and her mother, my great grandmother, were part of a team of local women who not only assisted at births but also laid out the dead.
Whenever there was a death in the neighbourhood, at the time nearly all people died at home, two of them would appear at the home of the deceased immediately.They would offer their services and silently ''do the necessary''.Sometimes visiting daily to care for the bereaved relatives as well by doing cooking, housework and shopping until the funeral.On the day of the funeral they would remain the house until the relatives returned from the cemetery or crematorium and have the funeral tea ready.They were known as ''handy women''and often did this frees it was expected this service would be carried out for them when the time came.
They could be latter day doulas as well.When home births were common place they would assist the midwife in what they called a confinement.Often becoming able to deliver the baby before the midwife came.My grandmother first took on this role aged 22 very shortly after my mother's birth when she was present at what was the very difficult labour of my great uncle's wife,fortunatly both mother and baby survived.
These women would say''We see them in and we see them out''

Well, quite. Thats why I mentioned Victorian photographs of the dead?

It’s ghoulish, however long it’s been around.

I’ve just been sorting though tons of my dads photos after he died.

He was a big one for doing this. My husband helping me was shocked to see loads of photos of my mum, who died when I was a child, in her coffin.

I wasn’t, I was in the room at the undertakers when he took them. I’ve since pulled out photos he took of most of my dead family in their coffins.

We had to have a direct cremation for him, so we didn’t get a chance to see his body in a coffin. I bet he was cursing me for not being able to take any photos of him, he loved all that.