Saturday, April 02, 2005
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Don't weep for me John Paul II has died peacefully in his Apostolic apartment above St Peter's Square in the Vatican, ending a period of public suffering that that spoke of the sanctity of life and the dignity of death April 03, 2005 Final hours Last messages from the brink of death JOHN FOLLAIN, ROME A FORCEFUL communicator to the end, the Pope managed to send two last messages as he hovered near death. With worshippers gathering in St Peter?s Square outside the Apostolic Palace, John Paul II, barely able to speak, repeated himself again and again until his aides made out the words: ?I have looked for you. Now you have come to me, and I thank you.? According to the Pope?s spokesman, the message late on Friday was probably directed at the many young people among those outside his window. John Paul had long prized the young as one of his principal audiences during a papacy that saw him travel a distance equivalent to three times that between the Earth and the moon. Earlier on Friday, he had indicated that he would embrace death. ?I am happy and you should be happy too,? he was reported to have said. ?Do not weep.? Yesterday, however, the Pope was in no condition to speak or receive visitors. ?As of dawn, the start of a compromised state of consciousness was observed,? said his spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls. The last hours, described by insiders with access to his third-floor apartment in the Apostolic Palace, showed that he was determined to die in the Vatican rather than in hospital, and appeared to be identifying with Christ?s suffering by asking that texts describing the crucifixion be read out to him. In his apartment, the Pope lay under white sheets and blankets in a big bed placed almost in the centre of his room. Two chairs were placed at the foot of his bed, one for a nun and one for his personal secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz. ?Everything was white,? said Mario Francesco Pompedda, an Italian cardinal who saw him shortly after noon on Friday. ?The Pope was lying down, resting on some cushions, a little turned on his right side.? The Pope tried to speak to Pompedda but failed. ?He spoke to me with that smiling and serene face. Though his breathing showed he was suffering, it had nothing of a death- rattle,? Pompedda said. He added that the Pope?s eyes followed him until he left the room. Until the middle of the week, the Vatican had maintained that the Pope, who had suffered from Parkinson?s disease, was recovering after leaving hospital on March 13. But on Wednesday afternoon his doctors inserted a nasal- gastric tube to make it easier to feed him. Unconfirmed reports said he had lost 40lb since December because of problems with swallowing. Shortly before 6pm on Thursday a high fever was caused by an infection of the urinary tract, which often affects elderly people unable to move freely. The infection prompted ?septic shock and cardio-circulatory collapse?, the Vatican said. His face was said to be as white as a sheet and he fought to breathe as he was helped to his bed. ?His blood pressure was down to the floor,? an aide confided. At 7.17pm Dziwisz called for some holy oil and used it to wet the pontiff?s forehead and hands as he recited the last rites, a sacrament for the sick. When his doctors were able to brief him on his condition, the Pope asked whether it was ?strictly necessary? for him to go to hospital. The doctors replied that it was not and the pontiff announced that he would remain in his apartment.This was widely interpreted as a decision by the Pope to die in the Vatican rather than a clinic. In his apartment, the Pope was given antibiotics and watched over by a team including a cardiologist, a throat specialist and two nurses. On Friday, the Pope?s condition was described as ?very serious?, his blood pressure unstable. He celebrated mass at 6am, and an hour later recalled what day of the week it was. Navarro-Valls, who was with him, said he had followed attentively as texts concerning the crucifixion were read out. ?The Holy Father made the sign of the cross at each text,? Navarro-Valls said. Later that morning, cardinals were called to the Pope?s bedside but Navarro-Valls did not say whether they managed to communicate with him. Cardinal Camillo Ruini, an Italian, said: ?He had the intense gaze he has always had and he made himself understood clearly.? That evening his condition deteriorated further. Navarro-Valls said the Pope?s breathing had become shallow and a medical source disclosed that he was ?beyond hope?. By then, the Pope lay for most of the time with his eyes closed. Among the prayers that were recited at his bedside were the words, ?Leave this world, Christian soul? and ?Let the angels in the heavens welcome you and accompany you to the throne of the highest?. At no time did the Pope show any fear of death.
