ROME-Countless mourners sparked controversy by using camera phones to snap pictures of Pope John Paul II as the pontiff lay in state this week in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
The tech-savvy visitors who captured the pope’s image as they paid their last respects have drawn criticism by some who claim the snapping shutters and popping flashes are disrespectful. Funeral rites established by John Paul in 1996 prohibit non-credentialed photographers from taking such pictures, and signs in the Basilica also prohibit photography.
But some camera-toting mourners said they were simply capturing a historical image of the body of a great religious leader. Vatican security staffers made no attempt to prohibit taking pictures.
“Of course, everyone is taking pictures,” 19-year-old mourner Antonio Parente told The New York Times as he held his camera phone. “They want to remember this moment.”
