/ 1 April 2005

Pope given last rites

Pope John Paul II has suffered septic shock and a heart attack, and his condition is “very serious”, Vatican spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls said on Friday.

“Following a urinary-tract infection, septic shock and a cardiocirculatory collapse occurred,” Navarro-Valls said in a statement.

The pope received the last rites on Thursday evening after suffering the heart attack, Navarro-Valls said.

The 84-year-old pontiff is “conscious, lucid and serene. At 7.17pm yesterday [Thursday], he received the Saint Viaticum”, the spokesperson said, referring to the rites administered to the ill when approaching death.

Italy’s newspapers were plunged into gloom on Friday over the outlook for the pope, many underlining that he has received the last rites.

“The pope is dying,” headlined Il Giornale.

Over a picture of the pope showing his face distorted in pain, the daily La Repubblica wrote of the “pope’s agony”, stating that the Vatican is “in anguish”.

The centre-right daily Libero simply wrote: “The pope can’t make it.”

Rome’s Il Tempo chose to underline the “Long night”, filled with conflicting reports on the pope’s condition.

Italian television reports said the pope is too ill even to be taken to hospital and has been given the last rites.

“The pope, in a very serious condition, receives the last rites,” wrote the communist daily L’Unita.

Prayers from around the world

Faithful from around the world prayed for Pope John Paul II as the one-billion strong Roman Catholic community awoke on Friday to alarming news of the 84-year-old pontiff’s deteriorating health.

Special masses were scheduled across the Philippines on Friday, local bishops said, as Cardinal Jaime Sin, the most influential clergyman in the Philippines, urged people to pray for the ailing spiritual leader.

“Let us entrust our Holy Father to the Lord of life,” Sin said in a statement.

“We pray for God’s guidance and strength in this difficult time. We continue to pray for the pope,” said Sin, who has been struggling with his own kidney-related health problems in recent years.

Other bishops in the Philippines said they would offer masses for the pope.

In Mexico, the Catholic bishops said in a statement that “the travelling pope … is ready to take the most important trip of his pontificate, the trip to the home of the Holy Father”.

Reports were so pessimistic that the Mexican Senate, acting on erroneous information that the pope had died, held a minute of silence on Thursday in honour of the pontiff.

“The floor of the Mexican Senate expresses its sorrow to the world,” Senate President Diego Fernandez de Cevallos said, announcing the minute of silence.

He later informed the senators of the mistake.

Churches stayed open late into the night in the pope’s native Poland as news of the crisis swept the overwhelmingly Catholic country.

Followers flocked to St Patrick’s Cathedral, the Roman Catholic bastion in New York.

“I think he is a very special man, not only for the church but for the world. I am very saddened,” said Aedmar Kelly, who attended one early-evening mass and said she would return later in the night to pray for the pope.

Father Eugene Kiely, who was visiting New York from County Kerry in Ireland, said: “We should all be praying for him, for all he has done and for his inspiration.”

A leading Catholic clergyman in Peru, Juan Jose Larraneta, urged Catholics to “come together in prayer for Pope John Paul II, who is living the final stage of his life”. — AFP