The Hindu : Front Page : Pope John Paul II dead

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Sunday, Apr 03, 2005

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Front Page

Pope John Paul II dead

By Vaiju Naravane

Pope John Paul II, who died late on Saturday. A file photo of the Pope leaving after a meeting at Paul VI Hall at the Vatican on May 4, 2000. — AP

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 2. Pope John Paul II died in his apartments in the Vatican at 9.37 p.m. local time tonight. As the lights in his apartments were switched off, a strange hush fell over the thousands of people gathered in Saint Peter's Square in Rome, bringing to an end their long vigil and ending the third longest papacy in history. Hundreds of churches that dot the Italian capital began ringing the death knell upon the news of his death.

In a terse two-line communiqué the Vatican announced the pontiff's death. "The Holy Father died this evening at 21:37 in his private apartment. All the procedures foreseen by the Apostolic Constitution `Universi Dominici Gregis' promulgated by John Paul II on February 22, 1996, have been set in motion."

The 84-year-old pontiff died two days after suffering heart failure brought on by two months of acute breathing problems and other infections. Following the death of Pope John Paul II, responsibility for temporary power in the Vatican has passed to a senior official known as the cardinal camerlengo.

That post, filled by Eduardo Cardinal Martinez Somalo, gives him the task of heading the huge Vatican machinery and calling a congregation of cardinals as soon as possible to make arrangements for the funeral. He also sets the calendar for the sequence of events that lead up to the appointment of the Pope's successor. Having determined the day of the funeral, the cardinal makes the necessary arrangements to have the Pope's body transferred to Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican where it is laid out before the faithful.

The funeral and burial are to take place between four and six days from the moment of the Pope's death. Official delegations will come from around the world to attend the funeral mass celebrated by the oldest cardinal, Bernardin Gantin.

The conclave to elect a new pope must begin at least 15 but no more than 20 days after the Pope's death. The papal offices will now be sealed and all the officials of the papacy have ceased to exercise their official functions. The papal offices will be reopened only once a new pope is in place. The Vatican's chamberlain Cardinal Somalo will head a caretaker administration.

News of his death touched not only Catholics from his native Poland to the Americas, from Africa to Asia, but untold numbers of other admirers of one of the most popular and recognisable popes in history.

The first inkling that the Pope was dying came when the Vatican cancelled a scheduled briefing by spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls at 6 p.m. local time saying a written communiqué would be published an hour later.

The Pope's body will lie in state so that his grieving followers can pay their last respects.

Earlier in the day the Vatican spokesman had said that the Pope was slipping in and out of consciousness but denied that he was in a coma. Nevertheless, "that absolutely does not mean, technically, that he is in a state of coma. When spoken to, he opens his eyes and remains conscious. At times it seems he is sleeping or that he is resting his eyes." The pontiff was surrounded by some of his closest aides — his private secretary, Stanislaw Dziwisz, three Polish nuns, Dziwisz's assistant, and the pontiff's personal doctor, Renato Buzzonetti.

Authorities in Rome said they expected up to a million people to congregate in the city which was already getting choked with people thronging the airports and hotel accommodation was in scarce supply. Workers had already begun dismantling a temporary structure in St. Peter's Square. An altar is expected to be erected there, as it was during the demise of the last Pope. Although the funeral will be held in Rome, Pope John Paul II will probably be buried in Poland, the land of his birth. A thousand dignitaries, including heads of state and government, are expected to attend his funeral.

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