"Let the poor man have some dignity"

I can't imagine anyone showing much more dignity than John Paul has demonstrated in these last few appearances.

There seems to be a presumption sometimes that dignity is tied up with not being dependent on other people, and not being weak and vulnerable. I think that's about 180 degrees off the truth.

Obviously there's nothing sad about what's happening. Except in the older sense where "sad" means "serious", and is appropriate for an occasion when we are drawn to think about serious things, like our own mortality, and the time left to us, and what we are going to do with it.