Pope Clings to Life As His Health Worsens (AP) - Pope John Paul II was clinging to life Friday as his condition deteriorated further. The Vatican said his breathing was shallow and his kidneys were failing after he suffered massive heart problems. "The general conditions and cardio-respiratory conditions of the Holy Father have further worsened," the Vatican said in a statement. "The clinical picture indicates cardio-circulatory and renal insufficiency. ATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II was clinging to life Friday as his condition deteriorated further, and the Vatican said his breathing was shallow and his kidneys were failing after complications from a urinary tract infection. Millions of faithful around the world prayed for the fading life of the pontiff. "The general conditions and cardio-respiratory conditions of the Holy Father have further worsened," the Vatican said in a statement. "The clinical picture indicates cardio-circulatory and renal insufficiency." The 84-year-old pontiff was taking part in the prayers of aides who had gathered at his bedside, spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said. The pope declined to be hospitalized. Italy's Apcom news agency, without citing sources, reported the pope was unconscious. Vatican spokesmen were not available to comment on the report, and had denied an earlier report by the same agency that he had slipped into a coma. "The shallow breathing is totally consistent with severe failure of the blood vessels to provide blood to all the key organs," said Dr. Peter Salgo, associate director of the intensive care unit at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. "Eventually you run out of reserve." In Washington, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick said he had heard from Rome that the pope is "sinking," and that he was praying that God will "take him peacefully." Thousands stood vigil on St. Peter's Square outside, many tearfully gazing up at his third-floor window, and millions more around the world paused to pray for him. In Wadowice, Poland, people left school and work early and headed to church to pray for their native son. "I want him to hold on, but it is all in God's hands now," said 64-year-old Elzbieta Galuszko at the church where the pope was baptized. "We can only pray for him so he can pull through these difficult moments." In the Philippines, tears streamed down the face of Linda Nicol as she and her husband asked God to grant John Paul "a longer life." Muslims in France were praying for the pontiff because he was a "man of peace," said Dalil Boubakeur, president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith. At the Church of the Assumption in Lagos, sub-Saharan Africa's most populous city of over 13 million, about 200 Nigerians in Western clothes and bright traditional African robes sat on wooden benches, offering prayers at a midday Mass for the pope's recovery. The White House said President Bush and his wife were praying for the pope and that the world's concern was "a testimony to his greatness." "The pope's faith is so strong and full and the experience of God so intensively lived that he, in these hours of sufferance ... already sees and already touches Christ," Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the pope's vicar for Rome, told hundreds who packed a Rome basilica Friday evening for a special Mass for the pontiff. In his first update on the pope's condition Friday, Navarro-Valls said John Paul suffered massive heart problems and was in "very grave" condition but was lucid and spent the morning celebrating Mass and receiving top aides. The pope asked one to read him the biblical account of Christ's Crucifixion and burial. A "fully conscious and extraordinarily serene" John Paul had participated in Mass and received some top aides in the morning, Navarro-Valls said. The critically ill pope appointed a large number of bishops and other church officials, the Holy See said in an afternoon statement. Among the top church officials who gathered at his bedside was Archbishop Paolo Sardi, the Vatican vice chamberlain. The chamberlain runs the Holy See between the death of a pope and the election of a new one. Another visitor was Cardinal Edmund Szoka, the governor of Vatican City and former archbishop of Detroit, who said the pope was being given oxygen. "As soon as he saw me, he recognized me," Szoka told the CBS' "Early Show." "I blessed him and as I did, he tried to make the sign of the cross. So he was perfectly lucid, perfectly conscious, but was having a great deal of trouble breathing. "And I don't know how long he can continue with that. They were giving him oxygen and all that sort of thing, helping him," Szoka said. Cardinal Marcio Francesco Pompedda, a high-ranking Vatican administrator, visited the pope Friday and said he opened his eyes and smiled. "I understood he recognized me. It was a wonderful smile — I'll remember it forever. It was a benevolent smile — a father-like smile," Pompedda told RAI television. "I also noticed that he wanted to tell me something but he could not. ... But what impressed me very much was his expression of serenity." Navarro-Valls said John Paul asked aides to read him the liturgy of the Third Hour — the biblical passage describing the final stage of the Way of the Cross, the path that Christ took to his Crucifixion. In that stage, according to the Bible, Christ's body was taken down from the cross, wrapped in a linen shroud and placed in his tomb. Monsignor James Moroney, executive director of the Secretariat for the Liturgy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the Third Hour is especially significant for someone who is dying because tradition says Christ died at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. "Because the Third Hour is the hour at which Christ died, this particular hour from the Liturgy of the Hours would have particular significance," he said. Navarro-Valls said the pope followed attentively and made the sign of the cross. "This is surely an image I have never seen in these 26 years," Navarro-Valls said. Choking up, he walked out of the room. John Paul's health declined sharply Thursday when he developed a high fever brought on by the infection. The pope suffered septic shock and heart problems during treatment for the infection, the Vatican said, denying an Italian news report that he was in a coma. Septic shock involves both bacteria in the blood and a consequent over-relaxing of the blood vessels. The vessels, which are normally narrow and taught, get floppy in reaction to the bacteria and can't sustain any pressure. That loss of blood pressure is catastrophic, making the heart try harder and harder to compensate for the collapse. "The chances of an elderly person in this condition with septic shock surviving 24 to 48 hours are slim — about 10-20 percent, but that would be in an intensive care unit with very aggressive treatment," said Dr. Gianni Angelini, a professor of cardiac surgery at Bristol University in England. The pope received the sacrament for the sick and dying on Thursday evening. Formerly called the last rites, the sacrament is often misunderstood as signaling imminent death. It is performed both for patients at the point of death and for those who are very sick — and it may be repeated. The Rome daily La Repubblica reported Friday that the sacrament was administered by his closest aide, Polish Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, who serves as his private secretary. Dziwisz had given the pontiff the same sacrament Feb. 24 just before the pope underwent a tracheotomy to insert a breathing tube in his throat at the Gemelli Polyclinic, the newspaper said. Among the aides John Paul received Friday were Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's No. 2 official; Undersecretary of State Archbishop Leonardo Sandri; his doctrinal chief, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger; and the Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo. The pontiff was treated by the Vatican medical team and provided with "all the appropriate therapeutic provisions and cardio-respiratory assistance," the Holy See said. It said the pope was being helped by his personal doctor, two intensive care doctors, a cardiologist, an ear, nose and throat specialist and two nurses. Dr. Peter Weissberg of the British Heart Foundation said septic shock "puts a phenomenal strain on the heart." "Those already suffering from heart disease — including those with heart failure — are even more susceptible to septic shock," he said. "Infection triggers a profound loss of blood pressure, depriving organs around the body of their vital blood supply and putting an enormous strain on the heart." Even the fittest patients need special care and medicine to survive, he said. Hospitalized twice last month following two breathing crises, and fitted with a breathing tube and a feeding tube, John Paul has become a picture of suffering. His 26-year papacy has been marked by its call to value the aged and to respect the sick, subjects the pope has turned to as he battles Parkinson's disease and crippling knee and hip ailments. It is not clear who would be empowered to make medical decisions for an unconscious pope. The Vatican has officially declined to comment whether John Paul has left written instructions. *I dont believe in god but what ever people leave your comments other feelings how you feel about the pope. * straight from yahoo news. http://story.news.yahoo.com/fc?cid=34&tmpl...pe_John_Paul_II link to latests updated alot
I'm Christian, not Catholic. I think it's silly how Catholics worship him...sucks that he's dying, though.
yea i do think its silly people cry in pain and misoury cause hes dieing why didint peopel cry cause of the war and other 10000000000 times larger reason like karoe and iraq?>
Athist here....and proud of it...but i never rellay had a problem with this dood....but whatever everybodys gotta die someday....speaking of ppl dieing......the terry chick..the one thats been a veggie for 15 years.....give her some respect..let her die allready....she isnt gonna get any better....let her die .....im not trying to be sadistic but geez
Popes My Home Boy. Hes Got A Couple Weeks Left. Me And Him Are Like Step Brother. You Dont Evan Know Honestly :0. Gl To Ya Pope
even if he does live he probably wont be able to be the pope anymore :/ and Terry Schivos husband is an ass he made her parents leave the room... id be like NO
Who would've thought that both the Pope and Terry Schiavo would die within a 48-hour period. The single biggest religious influence, and the single biggest right-to-die case, in a matter of days.
I'm a muslim but I respect him. He's a good guy and I feel very sad that hes dying. He should just rest in peace. I feel so sorry 4 him. - IC
I dont have a religion. It may sound mean, but I dont care if that old fart dies. He doesnt mean anything to me. Just some old fart.
