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In a provocative article, an Italian medical professor argues that Pope John Paul II didn't just simply slip away as his weakness and illness overtook him in April 2005. Intensive care specialist Dr. Lina Pavanelli has concluded that the ailing Pope's April 2 death was caused by what the Catholic Church itself would consider euthanasia. She bases this conclusion on her medical expertise and her own observations of the ailing pontiff on television, as well as press reports and a subsequent book by John Paul's personal physician. The failure to insert a feeding tube into the patient until just a...

A new article by an Italian medical professor speculates the death of Pope John Paul the Second was caused by euthanasia. According to "TIME" magazine, an intensive care specialist says the Pope's death would be considered euthanasia by standards set by the Catholic Church. The doctor bases her conclusion on press reports and a book written by the Pope's physician. She says the decision not to insert a feeding tube until just a few days before his death accelerated the death of the ailing pontiff. Plus, the doctor believes the Pope himself made the decision not to insert the tube...

Poland's forces not enough for NATO Peter Wilson, Europe correspondent September 15, 2006 NATO remains desperately short of reinforcements for its Afghanistan campaign, despite an offer by Warsaw yesterday to send 1000 new troops to join Poland's existing 100-strong contingent. Defence Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told Polish TV that the additional 1000 troops would be in Afghanistan by next February. It was a significant increase and acceleration of Poland's previous offer to send 500 of its troops later next year. The announcement came hours after pleas for extra soldiers to reinforce the US, Australian and other Western troops fighting in southern...

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Chennai, April 1: A 22-foot-high bronze statue of Pope John Paul II will be unveiled in Chennai tomorrow. The statue, costing Rs 400,000, has been sculpted by Shihan Hussaini, eminent sculptor and karate expert. The statue would be unveiled on the premises of the Sculpture Mission at Besant Nagar, Chennai, to coincide with the first death anniversary of St John Paul II, tomorrow. Shihan said this would be an event of historical significance as this was the world's first statue of the Pope sculpted soon after his death. The statue was completed and mounted on a pedestal six days after...

ROME (Reuters) - Leaders of the former Soviet Union were behind the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in 1981, an Italian parliamentary investigative commission said in a report. A final draft of the report, which is due to be presented to parliament later this month, was made available to Reuters on Thursday by the commission president, Senator Paolo Guzzanti. "This commission believes, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the leadership of the Soviet Union took the initiative to eliminate Pope John Paul," the report said. "They relayed this decision to the military secret services for them to take on...

The big story of the year happened last year, after every journalist in the world filed his biggest-story-of-the-year piece and went away for the holidays. That of course was the great tsunami. On this day one year ago the dimensions of the disaster had finally become clear. The tsunami is the story of 2005 not because it was shocking that natural disasters occur or that a quarter million people can die and many more be hurt in them--that information is well known to all adults. The great tsunami is the big story of 2005 because after it occurred the tired...

Sunday night sinners outshine CBS' "Pope" Mon Dec 5, 2005 3:03 PM ET By Cynthia Littleton LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The story of a man who is on a fast track to sainthood was no match for the sinners of "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy" on Sunday. The first half of CBS' "Pope John Paul II" miniseries fizzled on Sunday, drawing only about 8.3 million viewers from 9:30-11:30 p.m., according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research. CBS' lineup was thrown off its regular start times by a roughly half-hour football overrun at the start of primetime, but preliminary...

A betrayal of John Paul II By George Weigel Pope John Paul II had a keen intuition about the dynamics of history in his native part of the world. In mid-1981, John Paul smelled trouble coming. When a young Polish intellectual named Krzysztof Michalski (in league with the Pope’s old friend and fellow-philosopher, Father Jozef Tischner) proposed creating an institute in Vienna that would provide a meeting place for scholars from both sides of the Iron Curtain, John Paul heartily endorsed the idea, wanting Polish intellectuals to have a lifeline to the West when the storm he sensed brewing finally...

Pope blesses 'John Paul' TV movie Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:53 AM ET By Peter Kiefer ROME (Hollywood Reporter) - It was a meeting of Hollywood and the holy Thursday as the Vatican hosted the world premiere of the TV movie "Pope John Paul II" with Pope Benedict XVI in attendance. The cavernous Paul VI Hall was near capacity with about 6,000 on hand for the reduced version of the three-part series that will air December 4-6 on CBS. "I would like to extend my gratitude to the actors for honoring the memory of my illustrious and loved predecessor," the...

A ford escort that once belonged to Pope John Paul II has sold for £340,000. The 1975 saloon has no radio, hub-caps or air-conditioning reports The Sun. Millionaire John O'Quinn from Houston, Texas bought the car at a US auction. The car still contains the Pope's carved wooden rosary beads, a box of matches, a sweet tin and a dashboard medallion of a saint. Mr O'Quinn plans to put the car into a private museum. He said: "It's a piece of history. I'll be able to touch it and feel the Pope's spirit." John Paul who died in April, is...

Pope John Paul II's last words before his death were "let me go to the house of the Father", according to documents released by the Vatican.His words were spoken in his native Polish to aides hours before he died last April. They are preserved in a new 220-page volume which chronicles the last two months of the late pontiff's life. It is the first time the Vatican has published such a detailed account of any pope's final moments. Parkinson'sCorrespondents say the report is an unprecedented move, as the death of a pope has always been surrounded by secrecy. The book...

The Message Does Count World Youth Day was never just about Pope John Paul II. By Colleen Carroll Campbell The conventional wisdom of secular journalists has long held that World Youth Day is a "Catholic Woodstock" born under Pope John Paul II and sustained by his personal charisma. The millions of young Catholics who have flocked to this global faith celebration for more than two decades like to party together and loved their late pope. But his defense of orthodox theology and traditional morality was never part of the appeal. That explanation — that World Youth Day gatherings were successful...

Folks, Mr. Benito Rivacoba, a friend of my friend Jorge Franchi, visited Rome recently and went to St. Peter's Basilica, where he had the blessing of visiting the final resting place of the Servant of God, Pope John Paul the Great. He took the picture to the right which I now I am sharing with all of you. The tomb is a white slab of marble with gray streaks, tucked into an arched alcove, a leafy potted lily at the top and a small red candle burning at the bottom. A marble relief of the Madonna and Child hangs on...

The Catholic Church has launched the official process which may culminate in a sainthood for the late Pope John Paul II with a service in Rome. The mass to nominate John Paul for beatification marks the penultimate step on the path to becoming a saint. Members of a special commission - including a latter-day "Devil's Advocate" whose job is to challenge any claim - swore secrecy and probity. The commission will sift possible evidence of a miracle by the late Pope. Fast-track During the mass at the cathedral of St John Lateran, the words of Cardinal Camillo Ruini were interrupted...

Picture this: Ruth Bader Ginsberg wearing a snug, green outfit, complete with tights. Then picture four of her high-court compatriots, John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer doing the same. It's a tough visual, I admit, but given their property-rights ruling, we now know what those members of the U.S. Supreme Court must be wearing under their black robes. Think "jolly, old England" and the fellow in the green outfit who stole from the rich to give to the poor. He didn't do it alone. Robin Hood had his band of merry men to help. It wasn't...

WARSAW, Poland - Pope John Paul II's longtime private secretary said Saturday he did not burn the late pontiff's notes as his will demanded, arguing that the papers contain "great riches" and should instead be preserved. Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, who worked with the pope from 1966 until his death earlier this year, told Polish state radio there are "quite a lot of manuscripts on various issues," but he offered no details. "Nothing has been burned," Dziwisz said. "Nothing is fit for burning, everything should be preserved and kept for history, for the future generations — every single sentence." "These are...

Following years of vocal protests all the way to Rome concerning the existence of the heretical group Futurechurch's national headquarters on property owned by the Diocese of Cleveland, Bishop Anthony Pilla issued a phony statement condemning Futurechurch just days before his final ad limina visit with Pope John Paul II. Sadly, Pilla had no intent of enforcing the phony statement which was never enforced and the national headquarters of Futurechurch remains on diocese of Cleveland property From http://www.futurechurch.org/ : FutureChurch 15800 Montrose Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44111 USA Phone: 216.228.0869 | Fax: 216.228.4872 E-mail: info@futurechurch.org _______________________________ From http://www.cleveland.catholicnet.com/parish/stmark/ St. Mark Church...

WARSAW (AFP) - Eighty- five percent of Poles would like their beloved native son, the late pope John Paul II, to be named the country's patron saint, according to an opinion poll released. Just eight percent of those asked opposed the idea of proclaiming John Paul II the patron saint of the predominantly Catholic country, according to the survey of 800 people conducted by the Pentor institute on April 13. John Paul II, born Karol Wojtyla in the southern Polish town of Wadowice in 1920, died on April 2 at age 84. Poland currently has three patron saints, Adalbert, Stanislas...

This isn't original with me; found it from another forum. All the same, the idea I find uplifting. This is (supposedly) attributed to the late Pope John Paul II: I love you, With my every breath, With all I have left, From the deepest depths, Of my heart, I love you. With all of my strength, With a thousand miles' length, Every thought I think, And each, I love you. For the length of forever, As long as I can remember, Through good and bad weather, For always, I love you. When no one is there, When you think no...