Does the Pope's ring get washed frequently?

Every Tuesday. The head Cardinal comes and there is actually a replacement ring that he wears while it is being washed.

@mowens Ok, either that is AWESOME or you’re shitting me. Either way, I’m smiling.

It doesn’t need human washing. God cleans it before and after every kiss. It’s magic.

I’ve wondered about this myself. Have you noticed that the Pope sometimes wears the ring over gloves? What does that say?

@Shegrin – yeuch!

Traditionally it was used as the Pope’s official seal, so at least it got pressed into hot wax every now and then. Not sure if that still happens.

Also, though the ring is nominally gold, it probably contains a hefty percentage of silver (18K yellow gold is 16% silver), and silver is a potent antimicrobial agent .

Does he wear it all the time? If so, I would suspect it gets washed every time he washes his hands. Assuming he has decent hygene practices, that should be relatively often. Though, not often enough if it’s not washed between every kiss. After all, what’s the difference between having a hundred people kiss it before you or just one? If that one preson happens to be sick, it doesn’t much matter that it was only one person.

Papal anal bleaching….. or am I barking up the wrong tree here?

@thorninmud Has it. It is the same with the Communion wine cup.

Just don’t kiss the ring I wouldn’t.

@MyNewtBoobs Complete fabrication.

Gets washed by saliva….................

hhuhh! (shudders from scalp to toes)

Frankly, I would be more concerned about drinking from that communal wine cup since that occurs far more frequently than kissing the Pope’s ring. How often does one expect to kiss the ring in a lifetime compared to weekly (or for some, daily) Mass. ?

I wouldn’t be wasting much energy fretting about ring kissing.

But then, I’m not RC, so I
worry about neither :)

Episcopalians and some Lutherans aside, most Protestant groups have the good common sense to use tiny individual disposable plastic cups :)

Can you imagine what it was like during the height of the black plague? Aggghhh…..

@Buttonstc At the time of the plague, only the priests drank out of the cup, not the entire congregation. I think my church wipes it after every use – not perfect but better than nothing. However, to not kiss the Pope’s ring (or the King’s ring, in olden times) was disrespectful and insulting – not something I’d want to do.

I can’t find any mention of cleaning it, anywhere. They probably do clean and polish it frequently, I mean they must right? However they (the Popes) are European… you know how they are about kissing. One cheek or two? Hey you’re family it’s on the mouth!

And since it’s a gold ring, maybe they just rely on all the lipstick it picks up to do the job. Lipstick is supposed to make gold shine, according to one smith I trained under. But usually you then need a slightly abrasive cloth to wipe it off.

“When it came to my turn, the person before me did it and I kissed his ring as well even though I was rather embarrassed by it,” Bishop Murphy remarked.

“Some people still try to kiss a bishop’s ring but, obviously, it’s out of touch with modern thinking,” he added.

Also there’s the Blarney Stone. Tyler Durden urine?

@MNB

Thanks for the info. As I mentioned, I’m not RC so not really expected to know stuff like that.

:)

@Buttonstc I’m not either – I’m just a giant history buff.

Yeah, I did have that idea floating around in the back of my brain somewhere about how undemocratic things were back in the dark ages.

I should have used a more contemporary scenario such as Swine Flu (equally yucky to contemplate).

And if some King or Pope gets his nose out of joint about it….too bad for them. Ha ha.

@Buttonstc I don’t know about Catholicism, but at my church (Episcopalian), we’re asked to abstain if we’re sick. If you don’t partake in communion, it’s not a big deal (which is true for all other things). I’d rather have Swine Flu than regular flu

The Pope is only a man any way.

@ucme lolol you and me both. I blinked when I read the question. I know you didn’t mean that ring @MyNewtBoobs (goes back to the dirty minded person corner).

@Mz_Lizzy I’m pretty much always thinking about sex. And rape. And serial killers. I’m pretty messed up.

@MyNewtBoobs I guess it depends on HOW you are thinking about those things. If you are a writer or something, that would be fine. Other contexts might not be so bad. Thinking about sex all the time is fine :-D Doing it is even better!

@Mz_Lizzy & @MyNewtBoobs you have both committed several venial sins here…just sayin’

The list of my sins is so long I doubt anyone will notice a few more. :-)

@SpatzieLover I totally read that as “venerial sins” I’m not a writer, I just like thinking situations through like a writer.

@MyNewtBoobs how did I know my response would be turned into yet another sin ;P

I think I said here somewhere, if there is a murder in my local area and they do a Se7en and check my bookshelves, I’m toast!

Maybe I’m just gullible, but I heard it goes in the bedside Pollident.

In the back room of Pope-home, there is a small, evil creature – think Gollum or a tapeworm – which awaits the return of the Pope from the ring-kissing. It licks the ring clean, feeding off the DNA and enzymes in the spittle collected there. At night, it sleeps next to the Pope on his pillow, whispering advice about successful Poping. The spin recently has been about how to avoid more scandal, it slavers as it whispers. Each morning, it sloughs it’s skin and for a short while, takes on the persona of Elvis Presley.

Ewww@Auntydeb. Just sounds so festy.

mmmmm festy my preciousssssss, let me lick your ring sir, lickety spittley…
Sorry, I should be writing fiction really. These pesky creatures infest (ooh, that word again) my psyche and leak out every now and then.

You should! That thought went through my mind as I read your post. Let them out on the page… worked for Tolkien.

thanks @Mz_Lizzy – I do write short stories, but haven’t done anything with critters in… Fluther, such a great place for finding things out!!!