Pope clinging to life as Vatican says his condition has worsened
‘Pope John Paul II was near death Saturday, his breathing shallow and his heart and kidneys failing, the Vatican said. Millions of faithful around the world knelt, crawled on their knees, bowed their heads and lit candles to pray for the 84-year-old pontiff. “This evening or this night, Christ opens the door to the pope,” Angelo Comastri, the pope’s vicar general for Vatican City, told a crowd at St. Peter’s Square, where up to 70,000 people prayed and stood vigil in the chilly night. Wrapping themselves in blankets, many tearfully gazed at John Paul’s third-floor windows, where the lights remained on early Saturday.
The Vatican said Friday morning 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” and declined to be hospitalized.’
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