Vatican: Pope John Paul II Is Near Death (UPDATE - Vatican statement at 4:30am eastern time )

Las Vegas Sun ^ | April 01, 2005 at 23:41:40 PST | VICTOR L. SIMPSONASSOCIATED PRESS

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

VATICAN CITY (AP) -

0401italy-vigil Pope John Paul II was near death as dawn broke Saturday, his breathing shallow and his heart and kidneys failing, the Vatican said. Millions of faithful around the world paid homage, many weeping as they knelt with bowed heads, others carrying candles in prayer for the 84-year-old pontiff.

The pope "is on the verge of death," Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, head of the Vatican's health care office, told the Mexican television network Televisa. "I talked to the doctors and they told me there is no more hope."

Addressing the crowd at St. Peter's Square, where as many as 70,000 people prayed and stood vigil in the chilly night, Angelo Comastri, the pope's vicar general for Vatican City, said "This evening or this night, Christ opens the door to the pope,"

At times the huge gathering fell so silent the sound of the square's trickling fountains was audible. At other points, the crowd sang, "Stay with us!"

As dawn broke over the square, the crowd was considerably diminished, with a group of about 100 faithful continuing their vigil from overnight. They huddled around a message, written with prayer candles placed on the ground, that read "con te," Italian for "with you."

In a sign of the pope's decline, several cardinals said they were heading to Rome, including Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, and William Keeler, archbishop of Baltimore, Maryland. After the official mourning period following the death of a pope, cardinals hold a secret vote in the Sistine Chapel to choose a successor.

Around the world, priests readied Roman Catholics for John Paul's passing. Many expressed hope that his final hours would be peaceful.

"Now he prepares to meet the Lord," Cardinal Francis George said at a Mass in Chicago. "As the portals of death open for him, as they will for each of us ... we must accompany him with our own prayers."

Newspapers in Italy devoted most of their Saturday editions to the suffering of the Polish pope, whose given name is Karol Wojtyla. Il Tempo showed a photo of the white-clad pontiff with his back turned to the camera, with the headline, "Ciao, Karol."

The Il Secolo XIX newspaper of Genoa reported that the pope, with the help of his private secretary Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, wrote a note to his aides urging them not to weep for him.

"I am happy, and you should be as well," the note reportedly said. "Let us pray together with joy."

The Vatican said Friday morning that John Paul was in "very grave" condition after suffering blood poisoning from a urinary tract infection the previous night, but that he was "fully conscious and extraordinarily serene." The pope was being treated by the Vatican medical team and declined to be hospitalized.

By Friday night, the pope's condition had worsened further, and he was suffering from kidney failure and shortness of breath but had not lost consciousness as of 9:30 p.m., the Vatican said.

As word of his condition spread across the globe, special Masses celebrated the pope for transforming the Roman Catholic Church during his 26-year papacy and for his example in fearlessly confronting death.

In Wadowice, Poland, people left school and work early and headed to church to pray for their native son.

"I want him to hold on, but it is all in God's hands now," said 64-year-old Elzbieta Galuszko at the church where the pope was baptized. "We can only pray for him so he can pull through these difficult moments."

In the Philippines, tears streamed down the face of Linda Nicol as she and her husband asked God to grant John Paul "a longer life."

At the Church of the Assumption in Lagos, sub-Saharan Africa's most populous city of over 13 million, about 200 Nigerians in Western clothes and bright traditional African robes sat on wooden benches, offering prayers for the pope at a midday Mass.

In Washington, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick said he had heard from Rome that the pope was "sinking." McCarrick said he prayed that God will "take him peacefully."

The White House said President Bush and his wife were praying for the pope and that the world's concern was "a testimony to his greatness."

Karol Wojtyla became a priest in 1946, just as the Iron Curtain descended across Europe, and the inspiration he provided as Pope John Paul II helped to tear it down.

"Fifty percent of the collapse of communism is his doing," Lech Walesa, founder of the Solidarity movement that toppled communism in Poland in 1989-90, told The Associated Press on Friday. Without the pope's leadership, "communism would have fallen, but much later and in a bloody way," he said.

By afternoon in Rome, a steady stream of pilgrims jammed the Via della Conciliazione, the main avenue leading to St. Peter's. Some carried candles, while others held rosaries. Some looked through binoculars or camera lenses at the window of John Paul's apartment.

"We are near to him in prayer so that he can go to heaven, welcomed by the Lord and the other saints," said Rossella Longo, a young woman distributing rosaries to the crowd.

Tripp McLaughlin, a 20-year-old American in Rome, said "it would be a blessing if he passed on."

"You see video of him when he became pope, he was so alive, so excited to be here. Now to see him break down is just really sad," McLaughlin said.

Among those at the square Friday morning was Rome's chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, who said he came "to pray here in the piazza as a sign of sharing in the grief of our brothers for their concerns and as a sign of warmth for this pope and for all that he has done."

During the morning, John Paul had participated in Mass and received some top aides at his bedside, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.

Cardinal Marcio Francesco Pompedda, a high-ranking Vatican administrator, visited the pope and said he opened his eyes and smiled.

"I understood he recognized me. It was a wonderful smile - I'll remember it forever. It was a benevolent smile - a father-like smile," Pompedda told RAI television. "I also noticed that he wanted to tell me something but he could not. ... But what impressed me very much was his expression of serenity."

Hospitalized twice last month after breathing crises, and fitted with a breathing tube and a feeding tube, John Paul has become a picture of suffering. His papacy has been marked by its call to value the aged and to respect the sick, subjects the pope has turned to as he battles Parkinson's disease and crippling knee and hip ailments.

It is not clear who would be empowered to make medical decisions for an unconscious pope. The Vatican has declined to say whether John Paul has left written instructions.

John Paul's health declined sharply Thursday when he developed a high fever brought on by the infection. The pope suffered septic shock and heart problems during treatment for the infection, the Vatican said.

Septic shock involves both bacteria in the blood and a consequent over-relaxing of the blood vessels. The vessels, which are normally narrow and taut, get floppy in reaction to the bacteria and can't sustain any pressure. That loss of blood pressure is catastrophic, making the heart work hard to compensate for the collapse.

Even the fittest patients need special care and medicine to survive.

"The chances of an elderly person in this condition with septic shock surviving 24 to 48 hours are slim - about 10-20 percent, but that would be in an intensive care unit with very aggressive treatment," said Dr. Gianni Angelini, a professor of cardiac surgery at Bristol University in England.

Dr. Peter Salgo, associate director of the intensive care unit at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, said the pope's shallow breathing "is totally consistent with severe failure of the blood vessels to provide blood to all the key organs. Eventually you run out of reserve."

On Friday morning, John Paul asked aides to read him the biblical passage describing the 14 stations of the Way of the Cross, the path that Christ took to his Crucifixion and burial, Navarro-Valls told reporters. The pope followed attentively and made the sign of the cross, he said.

John Paul also asked that Scripture of the so-called "Third Hour" be read to him. The passage is significant because according to tradition, Christ died at three o'clock in the afternoon.

"This is surely an image I have never seen in these 26 years," the usually unflappable Navarro-Valls said.

Choking up, he walked out of the room.

---

AP Medical Writer Emma Ross in Rome contributed to this story.

--

[It's me]

I think, no, I hope, he will hold on until Sunday. The Feast of Divine Mercy.

Not that it really matters. This is one I think will go straight to heaven. No purgatory for this holy man. He has done his purgatory here on earth.

[toldyou]

Your comment was quite interesting. I found this:

Pope John Paul II made the surprise announcement of this change in his homily at the canonization of Sr. Faustina on April 30, 2000. There, he declared: "It is important then that we accept the whole message that comes to us from the word of God on this Second Sunday of Easter, which from now on throughout the Church, will be called 'Divine Mercy Sunday.' "

Entire explanation:

http://www.divinemercysunday.com/mercy_sunday.htm

[ex-Texan]

Papa Prophecy Update

During his3/16/05 appearance on Coast, Father Andrew Wingate shared prophetic visions regarding Pope John Paul II. On that show, Wingate predicted the Pope will be cured of a serious illness.

Despite the recent reports coming from the Vatican of the Pope's failing health, Wingate believes the Pope's death is not imminent. During the first hour of Friday's show, he said the Pope would be cured by a group of mystics who will travel to Rome and become important figures in the church. If the Pope does pass away, however, Wingate said he would "have to reevaluate many things."

Just to inform those who are interested in Fr. Wingate and his prophecies. Please hold the flames and sarcasm. This well-known Priest also predicted the Pope's serious illness.

Pray for the Pope as I do. Peace be with you.

[onyx]

Thanks for posting that collage' - a keeper.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Baptist guy here... Mother and Wife departed this earth in much the same way....was not a sudden event...just slowly slipped away quietly.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Prayers for this Great Man and Great Pope....

[goldwater64]

I am a very unhappy Polish Catholic right now. In Madison, we lost our Cathedral building to arson, and now this. I only hope that Our Earthly Father doesn't suffer unduly. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

[onyx]

Thanks for the post and the link.

You were right on, Petronski.

[Petronski]

All credit should go to fortunecookie, she remembers these things and reminds me of them as I need them.

[onyx]

When St. Faustina's writings were banned by the Church, he was instrumental in obtaining an accurate translation, which was compatible with Church teaching. (He was Archbishop of Kracow at the time.) And thus, the Devotion to the Divine Mercy was approved.

He promoted the devotion, and later as Pope, instituted the Feast that Jesus told St. Faustina that He wanted established.

He also Beatified, and Canonized Sr. Faustina Kowalska.
- -- - - - - - -


Thanks so much LBR!

[cyborg]

thanks!

[Petronski]

A comment on FoxNews recently went like this:

A lot of the people in the media didn't seem to recognize that John Paul saw the media as a tremendous tool for getting out his message.

Now, I heard this in my car on XM, and talking to myself, or the radio or whatever, I said:

A lot of people in the media are tremendous tools...

[cyborg]

LOL

[onyx]

LOL!
Yes, they are.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Not sure how to translate the proper time on this latest from the BBC but here it is:

*********************************

Last Updated: Saturday, 2 April, 2005, 18:11 GMT 19:11 UK

Stricken Pope develops high fever

The Pope asked not to return to hospital for treatment

Pope John Paul II has a high fever but is responding when addressed by aides, the Vatican has said in a statement.

At an earlier briefing the Vatican spokesman said the pontiff had begun to drift in and out of consciousness.

Cardinals who have seen the 84-year-old Church leader, who is suffering from heart and kidney problems, say he is propped up in bed and seems at peace.

Thousands of people have gathered in St Peter's Square and many have been chanting the Pope's name.

When addressed by members of his household, he responds correctly Vatican statement

The latest Vatican medical bulletin, issued at 1720 GMT on Saturday, said the pontiff's condition remains "very serious" and he had developed the high fever in late morning.

"When addressed by members of his household, he responds correctly," the statement said.

Earlier, Spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls stressed the gravity of the Pope's condition.

"Since dawn this morning there have been first signs that consciousness is being affected," he said.

'About to die'

Newspapers in Italy and across the world splashed farewell messages to the Pope on Saturday.

Prayers have been offered up for the pontiff worldwide

"Long Farewell to the Dying Pope" read a headline in La Repubblica while Il Tempo simply said "Ciao, Karol", using the Polish-born Pope's original first name.

All Italian sports competitions were suspended on Saturday out of respect for the pontiff, the Italian Olympic Committee said.

The head of the Vatican's health care office told Mexican TV the Pope was "about to die".

"I talked to the doctors and they told me there is no more hope," said Mexican Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan.

Correspondents in Rome say the mood is one of sadness and resignation, as the city prepares to say goodbye.

A nun in the city said that while she felt sadness at the Pope's approaching death there was " happiness that his suffering will end because he's truly suffering".

Heading for Rome

Having refused to return to the Gemelli hospital where he was treated last month for breathing difficulties, the Pope is being treated in his Vatican apartment by a team of four top consultants and his private doctor, Renato Buzzonetti.

May his successor be as principled and as much a force for good as this man has been, but with the ability to adapt his dogma to the realities of a suffering world Rosemary, Copenhagen, Denmark Pope's illness: Your views

His condition had deteriorated on Thursday after he developed a urinary tract infection that later brought on "septic shock and a cardio-circulatory collapse", and he received the last rites.

Cardinals in the US and Latin America have indicated they are preparing to travel to Rome.

John Paul II's eventual successor will be elected in a secret vote at the Vatican's famed Sistine Chapel by the cardinals - the "princes" of the Christian world's largest Church.

Prayers for the Pope have also been offered by other religions: Jews in Jerusalem and Muslims in Indonesia.

The Communist authorities in Cuba allowed the Church leader there, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, to make a rare statement on television.

Many view the undermining of Communism in Roman Catholic countries of Eastern Europe as one of the Polish pontiff's main achievements.

[onyx]

Hey cookie!

Thank you for making Petronski look so smart here!

[toldyou]

How interesting. Thanks for the post!

[Petronski]

She's not here right now, but I have an idea of the flavor of what she'd say. Something like this:

"Yeah, we all have our own crosses to bear."

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From the Las Vegas Sun and the AP

******************************************

April 02, 2005 at 9:10:14 PST

Poles Pray for Most Famous Native Son

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WADOWICE, Poland (AP) -

0402dv-pope-am Poles prayed for Pope John Paul II on Saturday with grief over their beloved native son's approaching death mixed with a wish to see an end to his long and public suffering.

At a noon Mass in St. Mary's basilica in Wadowice, the southern Polish town of 20,000 where the pope was born 84 years ago, the Rev. Krzysztof Glowka told a packed church that "we are here to be with John Paul in his agony, to experience, together with him, this great mystery of life that is death."

"Now as a sick and dying person he is teaching us the most important lesson, the lesson of dying and the lesson of perseverance," he said.

In nearby Krakow, an old friend of the pope, Danuta Michalowska, 82, said her grief had kept her from sleeping for two days. But she had taken solace in a personal letter the pope sent her just last week.

"It was just as if he had written it 20 years ago," said Michalowska, who acted in an underground Krakow theater with young Karol Wojtyla during the Nazi occupation of Poland in the early 1940s. "He joked in the letter and kidded me, as he always did."

Teresa Zyczkowska, whose children were baptized by the pope, gathered with a small group at first light to pay tribute beneath the so-called papal window in the Krakow Curia, where John Paul lived as an archbishop.

Zyczkowska said even after his appointment to the Vatican, the pope retained an informal manner with those he knew in Poland. He told friends "uncle is still uncle, and so we didn't change our way of speaking to him and writing to him," she said.

Now, "we are very sad for him and all the church because we believe it is a very big loss for the church," she said.

St. Mary's in Wadowice stayed open overnight as people flocked from around Poland and outside the country to the pope's hometown to pay their respects.

"If there were a chance for him to get well, I would want him to live until he is 200," said electrician Ryszard Kozak, 45, leaving an early Mass. "But it's just human selfishness to wish for him to continue on like this if it means more suffering."

Many began to think of what will happen after his death, some voicing hope the pontiff's body be returned to his native land for burial.

Most popes in recent centuries have been buried in the St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, his wishes have not been made public and many in Poland are speculating he may be laid to rest alongside Polish kings in Krakow's Wawel Cathedral.

Some voiced hope that even if the pope is laid to rest in Italy, his heart may be interred in the Polish cathedral.

"It is not possible that he'll be buried in Krakow - only in Rome," Kozak said. "But it would be very nice to have at least a part of this great person in his own country. Maybe just his heart."

The pope is deeply loved in mainly Roman Catholic Poland, where his 26-year pontificate has served as a source of great national pride and where gratitude is still strong for his role in helping bring down communism in 1989-90 and freeing Poland from domination by the Soviet Union.

"John Paul II's reign was a golden age for Poland, and I don't want to think about the fact that this time will come to an end," said Wlodzimierz Koc, 63, at Warsaw's St. Anne's Cathedral.

Polish newspapers on Saturday were filled with news of little else.

"The Holy Father is close to God," read the headline in the daily Rzeczpospolita, its pages filled with photographs of people worldwide praying for the pontiff. The daily Gazeta Wyborcza's headline read "John Paul II is leaving."

---

Associated Press reporters Katarzyna Mala and Yuras Karmanau in Warsaw contributed to this report.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From the LV SUN & AP

**********************************

April 02, 2005 at 9:21:35 PST

Vatican Says Catholics Arrested in China

ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY (AP) -

The Vatican said Saturday that Chinese authorities have carried out a new series of arrests of officials from that country's non-government controlled Catholic Church.

The most recent arrest occurred Wednesday, when a priest was picked up in Hebei, the same diocese whose bishop was arrested Jan. 3.

The statement said security forces also detained the 86-year-old bishop of Wenzhou, Monsignor James Lin Xili, on March 20 and two days later a lay official of the diocese.

China broke ties with the Vatican in 1951 and demands that Catholics worship only in churches approved by the state-controlled church group, which does not recognize the pope's authority. However, even state churches acknowledge the pope as a spiritual leader.

Many Chinese Catholics, however, remain fiercely loyal to Rome and risk arrest by worshipping in unofficial churches and private homes. The state church claims 4 million believers, but the Cardinal Kung Foundation, a U.S.-based religious monitoring group, has said the unofficial church has 12 million followers.

The pope's deteriorating health was front-page news across much of Asia but not in China, where the state-run media ignored it Saturday.

--