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I WAS SITTING at Cork airport yesterday morning next to some talkative young Corkmen. “The Pope is near dett,” says one, reading a text from his mobile phone. “Ah, sure,” says another, “tis the best for him now. Won’t he be better off? He’ll be safe enough anyway — Jeez, if he doesn’t go straight up, what hope is there for the rest of us?” Laughter. “Oh he’ll go straight up all right,” said a third. “I wonder will the schools have a day off? For mourning, like.” The young Corkonians were articulating, in their cheerful vernacular, something about the...

As Catholics around the world prayed for the Pope in his last days, there is a Kenyan woman using his well worn rosary, which he exchanged with hers, during his last visit to Kenya in 1995. It all began with a letter Lydia Waithera wrote to the Pope informing him of her hopes and aspirations. She expressed her wish to swap rosary beads on a whimsical note at the end of her letter. Lydia claims that she specifically requested the Pope to give her his personal rosary, rather than the ones he generally blessed for the faithful. In her letter,...

The papacy is not, in theory, a man-made office at all. Its holder is chosen for life, by God himself, to hold the keys of Peter and to be the vicar of Christ on earth. This is yet another of the self-imposed tortures that faith inflicts upon itself. It means that you have to believe that the pope before last, who held on to the job for a matter of weeks before dying (or, according to some, before being murdered) was either unchosen by God in some fit of celestial pique, or left unprotected by heaven against his assassins. And...

1. Mane nobiscum, Domine! Stay with us, Lord! (cf. Lk 24:29) With these words, the disciples on the road to Emmaus invited the mysterious Wayfarer to stay with them, as the sun was setting on that first day of the week when the incredible had occurred. According to his promise, Christ had risen; but they did not yet know this. Nevertheless, the words spoken by the Wayfarer along the road made their hearts burn within them. So they said to him: "Stay with us". Seated around the supper table, they recognized him in the "breaking of bread" - and...

<p>"The Pilgrim Pope" - Since Thursday, March 31 and the announcement of the Pope?s critical condition, high fever, and urinary tract infection, and subsequent septic shock there has been a constant vigil of the faithful while media coverage has been continually providing updates along with stories, and historical information on this holiest of holy men.</p>

Posted: November 6, 2003 Interview with Cardinal José Saraiva MartinsNovember 5, 2003By John L. Allen, Jr.RomePortuguese Cardinal José Saraiva Martins is prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Last year he turned 70, and the Urbaniana University Press recently honored him with a book of essays.In an exclusive interview with NCR Rome Correspondent John L. Allen, Jr., Saraiva Martins spoke on a wide range of topics looking back over his career as a Claretian priest, theologian, rector of the Urbaniana University, then secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education from 1988 to 1998 and prefect of the Congregation...

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope John Paul II showed the first signs of losing consciousness at dawn on Saturday, the Vatican said, as priests around the world prepared the Roman Catholic faithful for his passing. But John Paul, 84, was not in a coma and opened his eyes when spoken to, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said. The pope's health began deteriorating Thursday after he suffered a urinary tract infection. In its latest statement the Vatican, which earlier described his heart and kidneys as failing, said his condition was unchanged and "very grave." Navarro-Valls said the pope was still speaking late...

'Poland is at the Pope's bedside' By Dominic Bailey BBC News, Krakow Poland waits - as the rest of the of the world waits for news of the nation's favourite son. In Krakow, where Pope John Paul II was once a priest and bishop, the town's many churches were open throughout the night for prayer vigils, and continued to draw hundreds of people on Saturday. Hundreds have turned to Krakow's Catholic churches For such an unprecedented event, people wanted to be where they could find comfort and make their small contribution. Television stations have rolled continuous coverage of the...

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Pope John Paul signaled he is ready to die by choosing not to return to hospital, his former private secretary said on Friday. "The fact that he has not gone back to hospital is (shows) that he is serenely carrying the cross and ready to give up and to say 'It is finished'," said John Magee, Bishop of Cloyne in Ireland, who worked for the Pope for nine years and was with him during an assassination attempt in 1981. The 84-year-old Pope appeared close to death on Friday after heart failure and breathing problems although the Vatican...

ROME, April 1 - The condition of Pope John Paul II was "very grave," the Vatican said this morning, adding that he had been given last rites after suffering heart failure on Thursday. But the pope, 84, whose health has taken a steep dive in the last two months, had decided himself not to go to the hospital, and this morning he was still "conscious, lucid and tranquil," his chief spokesman, Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls, said in a statement. The pope took part in a Mass this morning and received some top aides, his spokesman said at a briefing. The pontiff...

Boyhood friend holds good thought for pontiff LAKES OF THE FOUR SEASONS: Karol Hagenhuber attended school with the man who would be pope This story ran on nwitimes.com on Friday, April 1, 2005 12:57 AM CST Times Staff Report LAKES OF THE FOUR SEASONS | Karol Hagenhuber, 85, of Lakes of the Four Seasons, did not have to seek out news on the pope's illness, the news came to him. The boyhood friend of Karol Wojtylya, who later became Pope John Paul II, found his phone ringing Thursday afternoon. "Channel 9, WGN called me first," said Hagenhuber, who has been...

Given the sudden deterioration of the Pope's Condition, I thought a thread of this nature might be appropriate.  I read in one of the articles that the POPE HIMSELF is disappointed at his slow recovery, not because of desires relating to self-preservation but because of his scheduled duties and tasks.  I find that truly aspiring.  Here's to you Karol Jozef Wojtyla ! At a United Nations Function.           Kissing the Ground in a Foreign Land Unmarred compassion with his would-be assassin Weekly Address in St. Peter's Square With Princess Diana In Prayer (Very powerful I think) Brief Respit From Cover...

ABC News Ailing Pope Appears at Window Pope Appears at Window, Tries to Speak Amid Reports He May Return to Hospital for Feeding Tube A television in Rome with the Colosseum seen behind shows Pope John Paul II as he watches a television in his apartment at the Vatican in this March 25, 2005 file photo. The Pope is watching a TV broadcast showing the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) torchlight procession on Good Friday, in Rome. As Pope John Paul II struggles with his latest health crisis, a new image of his papacy is emerging, one based on...

VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II blessed tens of thousands of pilgrims and tourists who packed St. Peter's Square for Easter Sunday by making the sign of the cross with his hand, but he was unable to speak. Aides had readied a microphone, and the pope appeared to be trying to utter a few words from his studio window. After making a few sounds, he eventually just made signs of the cross and the microphone was taken away. John Paul coughed briefly when he first appeared, but remained at the window for 12 minutes and...

VATICAN CITY - Looking gaunt, Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II appeared at his open studio window Wednesday before thousands of pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter's Square for Holy Week, raising his hand in blessing a few times but remaining silent. John Paul's appearance was anxiously awaited by the faithful after Italian news reports that the 84-year-old leader of the Roman Catholic Church was not responding well to medication after Feb. 24 throat surgery to ease his breathing troubles. Some among the thousands of pilgrims and tourists assembled in the square had tears in their eyes as...

Pope John Paul II never ceases to rock our world.As he burst out of the Gemelli hospital last week and rode triumphantly through the streets of Rome back to the Vatican, he resembled the Roman generals of old marching back from war, blood-stained and battle-scarred, but victorious once again.The throngs of journalists and paparazzi that had been waiting for hours to steal a glimpse of the Pope as he was whisked back to the Vatican nearly keeled over in surprise as John Paul appeared not in an armored limousine with tinted glass to conceal his condition, but on full display...

ROME (Reuters) - Pope John Paul (news - web sites) spent a restful night in hospital after throat surgery and was breathing unassisted but doctors have advised him not to speak for several days, the Vatican (news - web sites) said on Friday. The Vatican's first medical bulletin, issued some 16 hours after the Pope had a tracheotomy to open his windpipe and help him breathe, aimed at soothing a worried Roman Catholic Church. Spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters the 84-year-old Pope's heart and blood circulation were good and he had no bronchial pneumonia infection -- a possible complication of...

Malachy's Prophecies - The Last 10 Popes 1. The Burning Fire. PIUS X. 1903-1914. This Pope showed a burning passion for spiritual renewal in the Church. 2. Religion Laid Waste. BENEDICT XV. 1914-1922. During this Pope's reign saw Communism move into Russia where religious life was laid waste, and World War I with the death of millions of Christians who were carnage in Flanders Field and elsewhere. 3. Unshaken Faith. PIUS XI. 1922-1939. This Pope faced tremendous pressure from fascist and sinister powers in Germany and Italy, but he was an outspoken critic of Communism and Fascism which enraged Hitler....

VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II is breathing on his own, but his doctors have advised him not to speak for a few days, the Vatican (news - web sites) said Friday, a day after he was rushed to a hospital and underwent surgery to ease another breathing crisis. Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the frail 84-year-old John Paul spent a restful night at Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic, where doctors said there was no sign the pope had a lung infection such as pneumonia. The pontiff had been taken by ambulance to the hospital on Thursday...

Pope John Paul II, recently hospitalized with the flu, is being returned to the hospital, wire services report. Details soon.