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| Sunday, 3 April 2005 |
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Pope on edge of death By Lionel Yodhasinghe Millions of Catholics the world over including Sri Lankans began praying for the Pope after Vatican announced that there is no hope as his condition was fast deteriorating. The Pope was near death as dawn approached Saturday, his breathing shallow and his heart and kidneys failing, the Vatican said to newspapers. The pope "is on the verge of death," Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, head of the Vatican's health care office, told journalists. "Doctors told me that there is no more hope," he said. The Vatican said 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. 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. 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," An Italian newspaper 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 but to be happy and pray together with joy. "The clinical conditions of the Holy Father remain very serious," the Vatican said in a written statement. "In late morning a high fever developed," it said. The critically ill pope approved Friday the appointment of several bishops and other church officials. The world's cardinals, who will select John Paul II's successor, have been summoned to Rome as preparations are under way for a conclave, the secretive election procedure that must begin within three weeks of the pope's death. ############### The Achiever Pope John Paul II was born Jozef Wojtyla on May 18, 1920, in Wadowice, Poland. He was elected the 264th Pope on October 16, 1978 at the age of 58. He was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years and the Church's first pope of Slavic origin. As a youngster, he was an athlete, actor and playwright. He completed his doctorate in theology in Rome in 1948 and became a professor of moral theology and social ethics at Cracow seminary. Pope Pius XII nominated him to be Archbishop of Cracow in 1964 and participated in the Second Vatican Council which contributed documents that became the Decree on Religious Procedure on the Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the modern world. Wojtyla became a cardinal on June 26, 1967. Pope John Paul II travelled more than any other pope in history and made 104 foreign trips-more than all the previous popes combined. He addressed the United Nations and visited Cuba where he met with President Fidel castro. He had 738 audiences and meetings with heads of States and government leaders including former US presidents George Bush, Jimmy Carter Ronald reagan and Bill Clinton, and Yasser Arafat, Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth II and Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. No other pope has encountered so many individuals like Pope Paul II and more than 17,600,000 pilgrims have participated in the general audiences held on Wednesdays. Pope John Paul II was behind the emergence of Poland's Solidarity Movement in 1980. He was an ardent opponent of the Iraq war unleashed by the United States. Unbound by tradition he led the Church in surprising directions. He was the first pope to enter and pray in a synagogue and a mosque. He publicly apologised for the failure of many Catholics to help Jews during World War II. He was also divisive, wedded to traditional church teachings and politically conservative on many social issues. He ceaselessly expressed concern for the poor, his frequent spoken and written meditations on what he saw as an impermissibly broad gap between wealthy and indigent people, and a lack of social justice. ########## When a Pope dies The procedure following the death of a pope was revised by the Vatican in February 1996: 1. The head of the Sacred College of Cardinals, the camerlengo, verifies the pope's death. 2. Standing over the pope, the camerlengo calls the pontiff by his baptismal name three times. At each calling, he gently strikes the pope's head with a small hammer. 3. Upon receiving no response, the pope's death is announced officially. The pope's private apartments are sealed. 4. The fisherman's ring, inscribed with name of the reigning pope, and his papal seal are broken. Those symbols of authority are thereby destroyed. 5. The camerlengo prepares for the pope's burial. Nine days of official mourning begin. Courtesy: The Holy See, Catholic Media Office, Knight Ridder /
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