[Ignatius J Reilly]

Was not aware that he was Martyr, I heard he died of medical conditions associated with parkinson's and old age

[Macoraba]

8/26/2005 VATICAN CITY (AP) - The editor of the Vatican newspaper said Thursday that Pope John Paul II was a "martyr" even though he survived a 1981 assassination attempt - the latest official comment suggesting a speedy path
to sainthood for the late pontiff.

Mario Agnes, editor-in-chief of the official Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano, told an annual pro-Catholic political meeting that the stones in St. Peter's Square where John Paul's blood was shed should be preserved because it was the blood of "an authentic martyred pope."

Ever since Pope Benedict XVI announced May 13 that he was putting John Paul on the fast track for possible sainthood, questions have arisen about whether he could be declared a martyr. Doing so would remove the need for the Vatican to confirm that a miracle attributed to his intercession had occurred after his April 2 death for him to be beatified.

[AliVeritas]

Patron of Youth, Life

He would be considered a white martyr. Shot and suffered for the faith even till the end, offering them for us and the youth.

[Salvation]

Updated: 7:39 p.m. ET Aug. 26, 2005

ROME - As he lay dying, Pope John Paul II was aware of the presence of the crowd in St. Peter's Square below his apartment window and calmly viewed death as a "passage from one room to another," his longtime secretary said in an interview broadcast Friday night.

"He heard everything. He heard the square, he heard the prayer, the presence of the young people. The Holy Father heard, because he was conscious right to the end, almost to the end, even the last day," Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz told private Italian Canale 5's TG5 news in an interview in Krakow, Poland, where he will be installed as archbishop on Saturday.

Dziwisz served as Karol Wojtyla's secretary in Krakow, where the future pope served as cardinal, and continued to serve him in the Vatican until John Paul's death April 2 at age 84.

The archbishop was referring to the crowd of faithful that had gathered in the square below John Paul's apartment window to pray and keep vigil for the pontiff in the last days of his life.

Pope’s last words: ‘Totus tuus’
The former papal secretary said the last words he heard the pope utter were "Totus tuus," the pontiff's Latin motto for "Completely yours," dedicating himself to Mary.