The Arizona Republic has posted an article about the explosion of papal related auctions on ebay.
eBay spokesman Hani Durzy says: “We began to see Pope Benedict buttons, books, newspapers . . . literally within minutes after he was named“.
There are lots of folks buying John Paul collectibles too. Rev. Mark Goldasich says: “Basically, people don’t want to forget and having that very concrete reminder, whether it’s a keychain, whatever, it’s something they can grab. In a way, the person can become real to them again.”
Evidently, John Paul is outselling the new pope...
Not all of the auctions are going off without a hitch however -eBay pulled the sale of consecrated communion host After it recieved 9,000 complaints. Additionally there are some auction that some catholics find offensive.