Isn’t this a bit weird? Anyone of faith care to comment?
Actually… it is a bit like the Queen always wearing gloves or similar… one simple reason is to avoid the transfer of germs…
and no, not that the Pope is worried for himself, he is worried for others.
Imagine, one person after another… kissing the ring… think of the germs, from one mouth to the next… could well end up moving through the population like wildfire…
The “kissing the ring” does still happen, sometimes, within certain controls (eg when the Pope is receiving a family or very small group)… but for the general throng… it does make sense to be careful… 
In UK… There was a similar uproar so many, many years ago… and as a result, for Roman Catholics , queuing up to take holy communion… the chalice bearing consecrated wine was no longer offered to them.
I forget now whether it was solely due to hygiene… or whether someone thought that too many little old ladies were getting tiddly at Mass on Sunday… hic … certainly stopped us kids from getting a tasty sip… drat and double drat…
That looks weird / uncomfortable 
Sadly, the folk were not told the protocol (or ignored it) and each person (if you look) accepts the Pope’s greeting in their own fashion.
Taking his hands and bowing low over them … would be the right way for this crowd. No kissing needed.
If you look… you will see he does not offer his ring (third finger, right hand) he quite clearly offers his hands…
Yes Stella, caught up in the moment 
Oh, absolutely… I understand how folk can get carried away… 
… but, trust the Press to try and make something negative out of it…
Sod that, I wouldn’t kiss anyone’s ring
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No-one would expect you to … 
you know how to behave…
Bolix, If you don’t mind me saying so Stella. Are you a Catholic? Do you understand this obscene ritual? My advice is if one is not a Catholic (or a recovering Catholc 
) one should not tread in this area unless one knows what one is talking about. There’s currently war in the Vatican and this poor mildly reforming man is under seige from the right wing, child molester cover up bastards. This is not about hygene.
Was not your chalice wiped between offering it to each person?
Surely holy communion is meant to be a sacrament,
not a lesson in hygiene.
Jane: Yes, the chalice was always wiped in between communicants… As I have said… it was many years ago, I was younger and do not now remember all the discussions/arguments that went on about this at the time… only that, subsequently, for all of us taking Holy Communion, the wine was offered to a “representative” on behalf of all of us… and we only received the consecrated wafer.
John… I do know something whereof I speak…
I thought communion by intinction was the usual way after that bit of hoo- ha.
At least not without knowing them reasonably well
Stella, I don’t think wine has been a part of communion for a long time, not since my first communion in the fifties anyway, except for the priest. Probably a cost reduction measure, so the punters just got a crisp (AKA body of you know who). I was in Lambeth, maybe you were in a posh parish.
John… as I said… I cannot remember when I last received communion wine… in fact, you’ve got me trying to figure it out… and as for posh… … nope … that doesn’t ring a bell…
and here, in France, it is the priest and a lay-member who gets a sip … (as a representative for the other communicants) …
Yes, that’s a perq of the handing out the crisps job I guess 
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The Baptist church where I attended regularly 20 years ago in support of an elderly blind gentleman was well organised for the distribution of communion wine. This was served from a huge tray of mini-tots of communion wine, which could be placed in little tot-holders in the back of the pew in front until the time was right. Then after job-done, the tots were collected using the same tray, not a spot spilled but always a bit left over if someone left early or was taken short at an inconvenient time.
The bread bit was a handed-round loaf from which one tore off a bit with as much reverence as could be summoned up, and chewed without giving the impression one had missed breakfast.
Edited to say I am in no doubt about the sincerity of communicants which was tangible and moving, and I’m not taking the pee, just relating the actuality as it appeared to me then. Other perceptions are available.
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Very civilised.
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If you had attended a Quaker Meeting you would not have been able to make such derisory comments against the sacrament, because there is not one.
I don’t know what has got into you lately, but you are being more than usually offensive.