Posted on 09/17/2005 2:43:43 PM PDT by NYer
Struggling to swallow and breathe, Pope John Paul II mumbled his final words weakly in Polish: "Let me go to the house of the Father." Six hours later, the comatose pontiff died, the Vatican says.
The account of John Paul's final hours appears in a meticulously detailed official report on his last weeks just released by the Vatican in what might be an effort to ward off any doubts about how forthcoming it has been about his illness and April 2 death.
There was much speculation in past decades over how some pontiffs died and what caused their end.
John Paul I's brief tenure of 33 days as pope in 1978 spawned conspiracy theories that he did not die naturally in his bed, as the Vatican said. Some wondered if the pope might have been killed because he had information about an Italian banking scandal in which the Holy See's bank was later found to be involved.
While no one has publicly suggested anything amiss about John Paul II's final hours, the Vatican said nothing for years when it was apparent to observers that the globe-trotting, widely beloved pontiff was suffering the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
The Vatican already revealed many of the details in the new report, but the 220-page volume provides more description of John Paul II's decline. It went on sale at the Vatican in recent days, the Holy See's publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, said Saturday.
The book, published as a supplement to the Vatican's official journal, has entries in chronological order, starting with Jan. 31, the day the Vatican's press office announced that the pope's audiences were being suspended because he had flu symptoms.
It chronicles John Paul II's symptoms, care and response to treatment during two hospitalizations and then during his last days in his Vatican City apartment.
Following the second hospitalization, which included Feb. 24 throat surgery to insert a breathing tube, John Paul's convalescence was hampered by "very difficult swallowing," laborious attempts to utter words, "nutritional deficit and marked weakness," the account says.
Swallowing and breathing problems were consequences of the progression of Parkinson's disease, which the 84-year-old pope suffered from for years, doctors have said.
Six hours before his death, John Paul said in Polish, "with a very weak voice and with mumbled words, 'Let me go to the house of the Father,'" the report said.
The official account is quite close to one offered last month by John Paul's longtime personal secretary, now Krakow Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz. He told an Italian TV interviewer that a nun who was near the pontiff heard him say: "Let me go to the Lord."
Media accounts published at the time of John Paul's death said he looked toward the apartment window and whispered "Amen." The Rome newspaper La Repubblica quoted a Polish priest, Jarek Cielecki, as saying the pope died "an instant" after he made a great effort to say, "Amen."
The Holy See's new book said the pope's longtime physician, Renato Buzzonetti, declared John Paul dead after running an electrocardiogram for more than 20 minutes, "according to Vatican rules."
Thousands of faithful had gathered to pray aloud and keep vigil in St. Peter's Square below the apartment in the days before his death. Dziwisz said last month that John Paul heard the crowd and their prayers.
According to the Vatican account, the pope uttered his final words at 3:30 p.m. "A little before 7 p.m., he went into a coma," it said.
"According to a Polish tradition, a small, lit candle illuminated the twilight of the room, where the pope was expiring," the account said.
Shortly after the pope died, the Vatican press office announced the time of death as 9:37 p.m.
The account is particularly elaborate about John Paul's turn for the worse on the morning of March 31 at his private chapel when he was "hit by a shaking chill, followed by a sharp rise in temperature" to about 103.
"Then very grave septic shock set in, with cardio-circulatory collapse, due to a diagnosed infection of the urinary tract," the account said.
"The explicit desire of the pope to stay in his apartment was respected," it said of the decision not to hospitalize the pope despite his deteriorating condition.
The Vatican account describes the pontiff as experiencing various levels of participation in what was going on around him.
John Paul's eyes were practically closed during a Mass celebrated at the foot of his bed in the late afternoon of March 31, the account said.
"But at the moment of the consecration, he weakly raised his right hand two times, that is, on the (raising up) of the bread and wine. He made a gesture indicating he was trying to strike his chest during the recitation" of the Lamb of God prayer, the Vatican said.
AP - Sat Sep 17, 1:42 PM ET
The body of Pope John Paul II lies in state in the Clementine hall at the Vatican, Sunday, April 3, 2005. The Vatican announced that John Paul died at 21:37 local time Saturday, April 2, after a long struggle against debilitating illness. He was 84. Pope John Paul II's last words, mumbled weakly in Polish, were: 'Let me go to the house of the Father,' according to a Vatican account of the pontiff's final days. (AP Photo/Massimo Sambucetti, pool)
Catholic Ping
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The World could use many more men like John Paul II.
What were they not "forthcoming" about? He was an old man who showed incredible faith and courage allowing the world to watch him "go to the house of the Father." I haven't heard anybody saying anything about the Vatican withholding anything.
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My beloved papa I miss him so much so much so much:{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Polish soul cries out:{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{
thank you"Nyer"ayayayayyaya:{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{
(((hugs))) to you Sara! I know Poland is missing their brother, John Paul. God bless you and your beloved country!
Our Lady was right there beside him to take him to the house of the Father!
John Paul the Great, Pope & Martyr - Pray for Us!!!
There is a place buried in the middle of the article where they sort of acknowledge your point:
"While no one has publicly suggested anything amiss about John Paul II's final hours, the Vatican said nothing for years when it was apparent to observers that the globe-trotting, widely beloved pontiff was suffering the symptoms of Parkinson's disease."
What always strikes me about the MSM writing on Catholic matters is they are so clueless they miss the mark entirely. Most journalists aren't religious and the Catholic ones you can count on one hand.
So, in this article they harp on that same old theory about JP1 being murdered (actually he would have been martyred) because of some obtuse Vatican bank connection.
Has anyone ever seen a serious investigative journalistic approach that comes closer to the real issues: that JP1 was rumored to be pondering ways to take power away from the Masonic Cardinals -- or the even more intriguing and virtually unmentioned theory that he was going to suppress the Order of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), who have gone from the great leaders and intellectuals of the Church to standard bearers for the Left, in politics and religion?
Those are much more believeable reasons for an assassination; have you heard about them?
It sure does, and thank you for pinging me.
I have just read this article to my husband... I am teary-eyed.
**"But at the moment of the consecration, he weakly raised his right hand two times, that is, on the (raising up) of the bread and wine. He made a gesture indicating he was trying to strike his chest during the recitation" of the Lamb of God prayer, the Vatican said.**
What a way to remember him!
"Six hours before his death, John Paul said in Polish, "with a very weak voice and with mumbled words, 'Let me go to the house of the Father,"the report said.":
thank you"sandyeggo"
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“This touches core of my soul”
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That stood out to me as well as I was reading it.
His death still leaves a deep ache within my soul....His good friend now Pope Benedict has been tending the Church for over a year now, and yet....
I don't think that "Amen" as last words contradicts the previous sentence as Last Words; it may be the honest last utterence of a godly man. "Let me go to the House of the Father," would have been the last coherent thing John Paul ever said, the "Amen" came out as a fitting coda. He is dying, saying farewell; why wouldn't he say it?
Just one Presby's thoughts....
(Some photos are no longer accessible on this thread, but there are many that are!)
And to think that just over a month ago I was in Poland and in his boyhood church. Also saw the altar in the catacombs of a church in Krakow where he celebrated his first two Masses after being ordained a priest.
Wadowice was a highlight, however, because after our Mass there I remembered that it was my birthday!!
Thanks for the Ping!
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