Rooney: Global Papal News

The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News Correspondent Andy Rooney.

I sit there all alone reading, drinking coffee and having opinions -- some of which I wouldn't dare tell you about because I don't want you to hate me.

I bought newspapers from around the world in a news store in New York this week. Most of them had pictures of Pope John Paul's body on Page One.

I don't know how people feel about seeing the pope's body. At most funerals in this country now, I think the casket is usually closed -- or not even there, sometimes.

I don't think people want anyone staring at them after they've died. I don't. It's a great picture of the pope, though.

It's basically the same picture, but every paper used it differently. Some show the whole room. Some have close-ups of his face. They had it from a dozen different angles.

I saw that they only dress a pope in red after he dies.

They said they used a pair of brown shoes he liked.

This was a full page in the Paris paper, Le Figaro.

In Dublin, the Irish Independent used more of a close-up.

They called him John Paul The Great.

This Turkish newspaper, I think it's Turkish, used pictures of him still alive. Same with this one from Madrid, Spain. I go along with that.

The Swiss paper, The New Zurich Zeitung, had it at the bottom of the page. Is Swiss different from German? Looks like German.

I don't even know where this paper's from. China, I guess ... and if you don't think it's getting to be a small world, look at the ad on the front page of a Chinese newspaper under the picture of a Polish pope in Rome, Italy. It's for a Mercedes Benz car made in Stuttgart, Germany.

People who aren't Catholic have been pretty good about honoring and respecting Pope John Paul. But, I think they probably had enough of this now.

One good thing, stories about Pope John Paul pushed Terri Schiavo off the front page. I mean, we didn't need any more of that.

After the show tonight, I'm just going to sit down with all these papers and look through the back pages for the comic strips.
Written By Andy Rooney