Cardinals Summoned
The world's cardinals, who will select John Paul II's successor, have been summoned to Rome, a sign that preparations are under way for a conclave, the secretive election procedure that must begin within three weeks of the pope's death.
Another sign of the gravity of the pope's condition was a decision by the Vatican to keep open its press office, which normally closes at 3 p.m.
Catholics around the world gathered to pray for the pope. Churches in his native Poland will stay open for 48 hours. In France, the Archbishop of Paris Andre Vingt-Trois called on all Catholics to pray for the pontiff and will hold a special mass at the Notre Dame cathedral later today, Agence France-Presse reported. In Israel, which the pontiff visited in 2000, Christians held vigils in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, AFP reported.
The basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, over which the pope presides as Bishop of Rome, will hold a special mass tonight led by Ruini. Leading Italian politicians such as Romano Prodi, former president of the European Commission and leader of Italy's biggest coalition of opposition parties, and deputy Prime Minister Marco Follini will attend, according to a statement they made to Ansa news agency.
Weight Loss
The pope has been unable to speak in public since the surgery and has lost almost 20 kilograms (44 pounds). In his few public appearances since leaving the hospital March 17, the pope has appeared to struggle to breathe and has been limited to waving to crowds of well-wishers and making the sign of the cross to bless his followers.
The Vatican said yesterday that the pope was receiving food through a feeding tube in his nose. He has compared his suffering to that of Christ and has repeatedly said that he would never resign even as his aides had to assume more and more responsibility for running the Vatican.
``I see the pope as the best possible example of human strength and dignity; he is teaching us this, maybe for the last time,'' said Maria Jankowska, 56, a high school teacher in the city of Tomaszow Mazowiecki, central Poland.
Polish-born Karol Jozef Wojtyla has held the throne of St. Peter for more than 26 years, the third-longest pontificate in history, and the length of his papacy is only surpassed by that of Pius IX in the 19th century and St. Peter. He was the first non-Italian elected pope since Adrian VI more than 450 years ago.
Soviet Demise
He is credited with speeding the demise of the former Soviet Union, ushering in the spread of democracy in his native Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe.
The leader of the Solidarity labor union movement and Poland's first freely elected post-communist president, Lech Walesa, said the pope was largely responsible for the fall of communism throughout Eastern Europe.
``The pope told me: `Do not be afraid - change the face of the globe,'' Walesa said in an interview with Poland's TVN24 channel, describing a meeting with the pontiff during his visit to Poland in 1979. That took place a year before the largest Solidarity strike and 10 years before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
``And, after that visit, the 10 or so people who were active in the anti-communist opposition expanded into 10 million people ready to protest, ready to strike, people who trusted that communism could be defeated,'' Walesa said.
Church Doctrine
The pope also aggressively supported church doctrine, opposing a bigger role for women in the church, purging more progressive priests, particularly those in Latin America espousing ``liberation theology,'' and shoring up the Vatican's staunch opposition to abortion and birth control.
People flocked to St. Peter's Square after the initial reports of his high fever last night at 11 p.m. and Rome police closed off the main road to the Vatican, the Via della Conciliazione, to car traffic. Today the basilica remained open and thousands of visitors streamed into the square, some stopping to pray beneath the window of the pope's apartment, where he would regularly bless crowds of faithful after Sunday mass.
`Real Pope'
``He's struggling but he looks peaceful and he's preparing for a serene death,'' said Marcia Parecida Kniphoff, 33, a Brazilian of Polish origins who lives in Latina, near Rome. ``John Paul II has been a real pope, bringing God close to people. I've come here this morning to pay a tribute and say goodbye to him.''
Politics also came to a standstill. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called on all parties to suspend campaigning for regional elections to be held April 3-4.
The critically ill pope approved the appointment of a number of new bishops and other church officials, the Vatican said in a statement issued some four hours after the last news on his health. It gave no new information about his condition.
The sacrament of the sick, received by the pope, is ``intended to strengthen those who are being tried by illness,'' according to the ``Catechism of the Catholic Church,'' whose preparation the pope supervised more than a decade ago.
The sacrament given to the pope used to be known as the last rites and was only given to someone who was very near death. Since the early 1970s the prayer is administered to anyone who is seriously ill. The sacrament involves the laying on of hands and prayer by a priest.
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