I have been looking for valid information as to how the Church treats the body of the Holy Father (Pope) at his death.

What they do to the body to allow (lying in state) for 15 days, who exactly prepares the body, and where the body of the Holy Father is placed after lying in state. Also if there are any special Sacraments for the Holy Father during lying in state?

-- Gayla Fallis (gaylafallis@hotmail.com), January 17, 2004

Answers

Gayla, To reply to you now ...
After a person is dead, he/she cannot receive any sacraments.

Please visit four sites to learn about things that happen when a pope dies. Click on these links:
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3 (about the embalming of Pope John XXIII in 1958 and the recent determination that he remains had not decayed)
Link 4 showing (at bottom of page) how Pope Saint Pius X's body, not embalmed in 1914, was found incorrupt in 1954.

-- (I@Wonder.com), January 19, 2004.

I don't know very much about this. I think he lays in state for 9 days and the masses are organized by the Cardinals after his death. I don't think there is anything in canon law specifying how the body is kept but I can be wrong.

There is some information here

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45@hotmail.com), January 19, 2004.