My daughter Mary likes to talk - she likes to talk a lot - as do we all of course.  My wife and I were much amused the other evening when Mary began to describe death - "it's when you can't talk anymore".  Or as I prefer to see it, when you don't have to listen.

Well as luck would have it I was reading Pope Benedict's marvellous book on eschatology, handily entitled "Eschatology", and what to I find on page 89 but the following:

"communication is life and its absence, death".

And no footnote to Mary at all.  Shame.