Faithful gather in St. Peter's Square to pray for Pope John Paul II on Friday night.
Posted on 04/01/2005 4:43:10 PM PST by NYer
VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II was near death Saturday, his breathing shallow and his heart and kidneys failing, the Vatican said. Millions of faithful around the world knelt, crawled on their knees, bowed their heads and lit candles to pray for the 84-year-old pontiff.
“This evening or this night, Christ opens the door to the pope,” Angelo Comastri, the pope’s vicar general for Vatican City, told a crowd at St. Peter’s Square, where up to 70,000 people prayed and stood vigil in the chilly night. Wrapping themselves in blankets, many tearfully gazed at John Paul’s third-floor windows, where the lights remained on early Saturday.
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” 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.
Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, the Vatican’s health minister, told Mexico’s Televisa dal Vaticano that the pope “is about to die.”
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
“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.
Catholic Ping
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This is so sad.
“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.
Catholic Ping
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I think we all know that.. I have a feeling if he dies in the middle of the night (Rome time)... they wont say anything until sunrise (there time). I dont know if i agree with that. I think the world should know the moment it happends.
Sad
Awwww.....
Why? Will he be more dead if we know sooner?
Very nice.
Seems to allow linking sometimes, but then not at other times. A shame, it's a wonderful picture.
Prayers for a gentle departure. My God guide him.
Yes it is. I believe that is Poland's Black Madonna?
Because the moment he dies the face of the church changes, and it should be noted when exactly that happends. I dont think we should hold off on his death announcement due to semantics...
From a Methodist.
" This is so sad."
He lived to be 84 ...some aren't as fortunate ...
The link is working now. That is a wonderful picture.
Brings tears to my eyes.
I pray he goes peacefully when God calls him home. He is a great and wonderful man. God Bless Pope John Paul II.
Good point. There is that, OTOH I was knee jerk responding to the perceived need to know everything the instant it happens. Sorry.
Don't be sad, he has had such a wonderful life and has accomplish so much more than could have ever been hoped for.
He is in his eighties, and even though a good athlete, the diseases and illnesses he has would have to take down the strongest of us in age.
Just pray that God gives us the Pope we need next.
This Pope will be in paradise soon and all we can ask of him in the future is to please keep us in his prayers while enjoying heaven.
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