Pope John Paul II dies at 84
Tears, tolling bells as Catholic leader succumbs after lengthy illness
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Dylan Martinez / Reuters
BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 3:57 p.m. ET April 2, 2005
VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II, who led the Roman Catholic Church for more than a quarter century and became history's most-traveled pope, died on Saturday evening, the Vatican said in a statement.
"The angels welcome you," Vatican TV said after the announcement came from papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls
The news was immediately announced to around 60,000 gathered in St Peter's Square and was met with a long applause, an Italian sign of respect. Bells tolled and many people wept openly.
Death announced to faithful
"Our Holy Father John Paul, 84, has returned to the house of the Father," Archbishop Leonardo Sandri told the crowds.
"The Holy Father died this evening at 9:37 p.m. in his private apartment. All the procedures outlined in the apostolic Constitution `Universi Dominici Gregis' ^that was written by John Paul II on Feb. 22, 1996, have been put in motion."
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican No. 2 official, immediately led a tearful crowd of 70,000 people in St. Peter's Square in prayers for the dead pope.
The windows of the pope's apartment were still lit up following the announcement of his death.
The announcement of the pope’s death was distributed to journalists via e-mail at the same time it was being read to the faithful. John Paul expired as cardinals were leading some 70,000 people at St. Peter's Square in prayers for him in his "last journey."
Italy's ANSA news agency said Vatican and Italian flags were being lowered to half-staff across Rome and elsewhere.
The pope died after suffering heart and kidney failure following two hospitalizations in as many months. Just a few hours earlier, the Vatican had said he was in "very serious" condition but responded to members of the papal household.
Before the pope's death, thousands of pilgrims had gathered on St. Peter’s Square to stand vigil, many tearfully gazing up at his third-floor window. The faithful around the world joined them in prayer.
'Placid and serene' before death
Vatican Cardinal Achille Silvestrini visited John Paul Saturday morning, accompanied by another cardinal, Jean-Louis Tauran.
“I found him relaxed, placid, serene. He was in his bed. He was breathing without labor. He looked like he lost weight,” Silvestrini said.
He said the when he and Tauran came into the room, the pope seemed to recognize them.
“The pope showed with a vibration of his face that he understood, indicating with a movement of his eyes. He showed he was reacting,” he added.
Around the world, people of different faiths had joined in prayer for John Paul.
“Catholics, fellow Christians, ... will be praying for him at this time as he comes toward the end of his extraordinary and wonderful life,” said Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the archbishop of Westminster and one of the most senior Catholic clerics in Britain, speaking to reporters outside London’s Westminster Cathedral.
'Man of peace'
In France, Muslim leader Dalil Boubakeur said Muslims had been praying for the pope, whom he described as a “man of peace” whose stature was a determining factor for change in the world.
In the pope’s home country, Poles gathered at churches as word spread Friday morning of his deteriorating condition.
“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 in Wadowice, southern Poland. “We can only pray for him so he can pull through these difficult moments.”
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.
Hospitalized twice last month following two breathing crises, and fitted with a breathing tube and a feeding tube, John Paul had become a picture of suffering.
His 26-year papacy was marked by its call to value the aged and to respect the sick, subjects the pope turned to as he also battled Parkinson’s disease and crippling knee and hip ailments.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
