Old and new rituals.

CNN reports that the Vatican announced the Pope's death by email and also has this detail of a decidedly old-fashioned ritual:

The Vatican's chamberlain ... verifies the papal death -- which in the past was done by striking the pope's forehead with a silver hammer. The chamberlain, or camerlengo, then calls out to the pope three times by his baptismal name. When the pope does not respond, the camerlengo then announces "the pope is dead."

UPDATE: How many blogs are associating this with the Beatles' song "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"? Based on Technorati, I'd say about 216 ... and counting. How many are associating the Pope's name "John Paul" with the Beatles John and Paul? Without running a search, I'm going to say a lot. And what is that "pataphysical" science that the "quizzical" Joan studied?

pataphysics

... The French absurdist concept of a philosophy or science dedicated to studying what lies beyond the realm of metaphysics, intended as a parody of the methods and theories of modern science and often expressed in nonsensical language.

ETYMOLOGY: French pataphysique, alteration of Greek ta epi ta metaphusika, the (works) after the metaphysics (pseudo-title of a work by Aristotle modeled on ta meta ta phusika, the (works) after the Physics, Aristotle's Metaphysics) : epi, after; see epi– + metaphusika, metaphysics; see metaphysics.

So was Paul McCartney thinking of anything Pope-related when he wrote those lyrics or is it just a coincidence about the silver hammer? Was the reference to "pataphysical science" intended as some sort of critique of Catholicism? Ah, I remember the days when we used to puzzle minutely over the meaning of Beatles lyrics! But remember what Ian MacDonald wrote about "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" in "Revolution in the Head" (p. 285):

If any single recording shows why The Beatles broke up, it is MAXWELL'S SILVER HAMMER. Compulsively fertile in melody and fascinated by music's formal beauties, McCartney could, when unrestrained by Lennon's cynicism, fatally neglect meaning and expression.

Anyway, here's the original source of the notion of "pataphysics."

ANOTHER UPDATE: Actually, based on this Technorati search, I'd say the number of blogs making the association is more like 13.