They look unthreatening but we wouldn’t advise challenging the Swiss Guards tackling the pure selfiesness of Insta Papal pics.
It would, of course, be too much to expect that people would respect Francis’s dignity.
By desisting from stealing a selfie with the Pope as he lies in state in St Peter’s Basilica.
And I can’t imagine my mum’s cousins, monks and nuns.
All in the same family, copying the sisters with mobiles at the Pope’s casket.
Processing the processions
Whatever the rights and wrongs of processions to visit a dignitary as they lie in state.
And we would argue that it elicits a gawkishness or overdeference among those who stand for hours to worship at a mortal’s feet.
Whether that be a queen, a president or a pope.
It must be wrong that the great modern icon of Insta-gratification has come to overrule normal rules and conventions.
And we won’t even get started at those who smile inanely at the gates of Auschwitz and other Holocaust or dark tourist sites.
World turns off its phones
Back in the Vatican the Swiss Guards and Polizie have for now not brought the full force of the law down on the miscreants.
But the tide is turning around the world against the Insta-social behaviour which is ruining our visitors experiences.
At the moment the ban on selfies has been restricted to matters of safety and security.
And so visitors are forbidden from taking selfies, photos or videos in the Jewel House of the Tower of London where the Crown Jewels are kept.
The big beasts
Elsewhere it’s animals’ safety that is the consideration.
Theirs and ours with pics with the big cats ruled out in the zoos and circuses of New York.
And photos with bears are a no-no in Lake Tahoe in California.
Although the authorities would probably be best just letting the grizzlies enforce the law for them.
With some humans instinctively averse to boundaries the rules have to be laid down for them.
And so, and think about, the authorities have had to legislate against selfies at the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona.
Respect for religion
Now while that adrenaline rush is an athletic pilgrimage our spiritual odysseys also need protecting.
And the Islamic world does it best with the ban on selfies on the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Pilgrims only have a short time left in the snaking queue before the casket is closed tonight on the Pope.
Before his funeral tomorrow and Francis gets some peace from the throngs.
And the pure selfiesness of Insta Papal pics.
