The Pope Clings to Life, While Diario Extra Reports: POPE DIES!
Karol Wojtyla - Pope John Paul II - who, while in on his death bed, remains at the head of the Catholic church - 26 years, the longest by any other Pope and took the most trip abroad - 104 - including a visit to Costa Rica in 1983.

Pope John Paul is perhaps the single most man that influenced world changes, as he met face to face with dictators (Fidel Castro) and the powerful (George W. Bush
and Tony Blair) to voice his disapproval over the Iraq war.

In its latest pronouncement on Pope John Paul II's failing health, the Vatican acknowledged Saturday that the pope has slipped in and out of consciousness.

"There has been an initial compromise in the state of consciousness, but we cannot speak of a coma," said spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, noting that a particularly "difficult compromising moment" happened around dawn.

"His eyes are open," he said. "Sometimes he looks like he's resting with his eyes closed. So when he opens his eyes, when he's spoken to, and I'm not talking medically however, there is no talk of coma."

Navarro-Valls said the pope's general and cardiorespiratory conditions "are the same" and "nothing has changed" since Friday's statement that the pope's blood pressure had weakened and his kidneys were failing.

Navarro-Valls' comments late Saturday morning indicate the pope's condition continues to decline.

Navarro-Valls spoke and answered questions as Roman Catholic faithful stood vigil in St. Peter's Square and millions prayed across the world for the 84-year-old pontiff.

He reconstructed a sentence of "interrupted words pronounced by the Holy Father" Saturday morning, which he suggested were spoken as the ailing pope thought about the young people gathered in St. Peter's Square overnight.

On Friday night, the pope -- quoted by Navarro-Valls -- said: "I have looked for you. Now you have come to me. And I thank you."

The pope's condition began deteriorating rapidly Thursday, after a urinary tract infection caused a high fever, leading to septic shock and collapse of his cardiocirculatory system.

He was administered the sacrament of anointing the sick, formerly known as last rites or extreme unction, Thursday night.

Despite his precarious health, Navarro-Valls said, the pope wished to remain in his residence at the Vatican, rather than returning to Gemelli hospital in Rome, where he has been hospitalized twice since February.

A Mass was celebrated in the pope's presence at 7:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. EST) Saturday, Navarro-Valls said.
Concerns around the world

During a rosary service in the square Friday night, Monsignor Angelo Comastri, the vicar of Vatican City, said that soon "Christ will open the doors to the pope."

At St. John Lateran Church in Rome, during a Mass for the pope's health, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the vicar of Rome, said John Paul had "abandoned himself to the hands of Christ."

In Krakow, Poland, where John Paul served as archbishop before he became pope, thousands of people gathered at the archbishop's residence, many carrying candles and crying. The crowd prayed and sang for their fellow Pole.

"What I'm hearing from Rome, if my information is correct, is that the Holy Father is sinking," said Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington and a leading American prelate.

"We'll pray that the Lord -- who must love this man very much, because this man loves him very much -- that the Lord will take him peacefully to himself, if that's his will right now," McCarrick said.

The pope received visitors Friday, including the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, and other leading cardinals.
Declining health

The pope suffers from crippling hip and knee ailments and Parkinson's disease, a progressive neurological disorder that can make breathing and swallowing difficult.

On February 24, doctors performed a tracheotomy to help him breathe, as he struggled to recover from a bout of flu that hospitalized him.

A feeding tube was put down his nose into his stomach Wednesday to provide additional nutrition.

The feeding tube was inserted shortly after the pope's regular weekly audience, where he appeared at the window of his study overlooking St. Peter's Square for about four minutes.

Unable to speak, he used hand gestures to bless thousands of people who gathered for a glimpse of him.

On Easter, the pope also tried to speak to the crowds but could not get out the words. Ill health forced him to miss several events during Holy Week preceding Easter.

Friday, the Vatican press office issued a list of 17 new papal appointments, including bishops and archbishops, and announced that John Paul had accepted the resignations of six archbishops.

The appointments and resignations were believed to have been previously approved by the pope.