A common thing to say to people when they sneeze is "Bless you!", or sometimes in the United States sometimes "Gesundheit!" (from German, meaning "Good health"). There is a story that the blessing started with Pope Gregory VII (540–604 AD). He said a blessing might stop people from getting the bubonic plague which was killing people in Rome at the time. There is a myth that when you sneeze your heart and all internal organs stop functioning.