Pope John Paul II has died

[FORD]

AP and Reuters reporting, details as they come in.....

[academic punk]

details?? it's all we've heard about the for the past 48 hours! it's not like anyone is sitting here thinking, "wow, who saw that coming..?"

[FORD]

I don't speak a word of Italian, but the priests are speaking in front of the Vatican, so this one must be for real.

Rest in peace, JP

[FORD]

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope John Paul II, the Polish pontiff who led the Roman Catholic Church for more than a quarter century and became history's most-traveled pope, has died at 84, the Vatican announced in an e-mail Saturday.

"The Holy Father died this evening at 9:37 p.m. (2:37 p.m. EST) 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."

[academic punk]

Revive him!

This is just another example of whiny liberals not doing all they can to build a culture of life for the disabled!

Even if, in this case, the fella has a disability to get a pulse...

[Nickdfresh]

Goodbye ol' holy father. He had a good run as Popes go.

[Full Bug]

RIP, he did alot of good things, god bless him....

[VanJay011379]

RIP

[VanJay011379]

Just wanted to post the link FORD posted earlier. I am listening to this at work. Thanks!

Originally posted by FORD
Live POPEWATCH video feed from CBS News

Reportedly, they will hang some sort of black curtain from the window when the Pope has died.

[Phil theStalker]

Italy!

The pope is dead.

I wuz looking at Italy on-ah da TV last-ah nite-ah.

I'm-ah gonna make-ah sum-ah spagett-ah wit-ah meat-ta...

oh, he was Polish.

Ahoj, dobre den!

I'm gona mak sum potato perogies wit onions and polish sausages.

DEFROST INSTRUCTIONS in English

Nope. I'm going back t2o the spagetti with meat-ah ballz-ah and-ah Italian-ahhhhhhh sausage-ah.

That's-ah what-ah I-ah want-ah.

Don't give me no perogies.

I'll go out of my head.

I want spagetti.

[Phil theStalker]

Originally posted by Phil theStalker
Italy!

The pope is dead...

..I want spagetti.

Hey, I just poostied dis and an avalanch aff fakking wet snow just fell on-ah my house almost collapsing da roof. Tit wuz loud as HELL.

I'm-ah getting struck-ah by-ah G-d-ahh or-ah da fakking devil.

They both give me grief.


true dat

[FORD]

Pope John Paul II Dead At 84
VATICAN CITY, April 2, 2005


After a swift decline in his health over the past several days, Pope John Paul II died at his apartment at the Vatican Saturday. He was 84 years old.

"The angels welcome you," Vatican TV said after the announcement came from papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican No. 2 official, led a tearful crowd of 70,000 people in St. Peter's Square in prayers for the pope, who led the Roman Catholic Church for the last 26 years.

Some people held their hands to their heads in disbelief. Others cried uncontrollably as they stood in the massive plaza beneath the pope's still-lighted apartment windows.

A Mass was scheduled for St. Peter's Square for Sunday morning.

The pope died at 9:37 p.m. (2:37 p.m. EST) after suffering heart and kidney failure following two hospitalizations in as many months. Just hours earlier, the Vatican said he was in "very serious" condition but had responded to members of the papal household.

The death of a pope triggers a mourning period as well as a gathering of cardinals to elect a successor, in what can be a lengthy process. It culminates with a vote — or up to 30 — in the Sistine Chapel.

Until then, power will be divided among a core group of Vatican officials.

Initial preparations got under way Saturday for the elaborate rituals marking a pope's death, with officials gearing up to accommodate the tens of thousands of pilgrims who were expected to converge on Rome as Pope John Paul II's following the pope's death.

Workmen in cherry-pickers began dismantling the canopy that normally stands on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica to shield the pope from the sun during outdoor Masses. One workman told The Associated Press the space had to be cleared for John Paul's funeral.

The city of Rome, meanwhile, began making plans to house the tens of thousands of pilgrims expected to flock to the city over the coming days.

Portable toilets and ambulances appeared in greater numbers near the Vatican on Saturday and the city transport system said it was increasing service on bus and subway lines which stop at St. Peter's. Some city buses began skipping intermediate stops, even at central Piazza Venezia, to rush pilgrims straight from Rome's main train station to St. Peter's Square.

Around the world, special Masses celebrated the pope for transforming the Roman Catholic Church during his 26-year papacy and for his example in fearlessly confronting death.

Hospitalized twice last month after breathing crises, and fitted with a breathing tube and a feeding tube, John Paul had become a picture of suffering.

His papacy has been marked by its call to value the aged and to respect the sick, subjects the pope has turned to as he battles Parkinson's disease and crippling knee and hip ailments. The pope also survived a 1981 assassination attempt, when a Turkish gunman shot him in the abdomen.

John Paul's health declined sharply Thursday when he developed a high fever brought on by the infection. The pope suffered septic shock and heart problems during treatment for the infection, the Vatican said.

The next pope will confront a range of challenges, including scientific advances that conflict with Catholic teaching; the decline of religious observance in Europe and North America; an explosion in church membership in the Third World; and a dwindling number of priests in the West.

After a quarter-century of John Paul's strong personality and hands-on management style, some want Vatican officials to stay out of the day-to-day operations of dioceses. Others believe officials in Rome should stay deeply involved to crack down on dissent.

Vatican observers disagree over whether there will be pressure in the conclave to return the papacy to an Italian, or whether they will want to send a signal to the burgeoning ranks of Catholics in the Third World by choosing an African or Latin American candidate.

Born in Poland in 1920 as Karol Wojtyla, John Paul secretly trained for the priesthood under Nazi occupation, lived under Communism, and contributed to the fall of the Iron Curtain by denouncing the oppression of Christians and supporting the Solidarity movement in his homeland.

John Paul unequivocally opposed pre- and extra-marital sex, homosexuality, abortion, and the use of contraception.

His opposition to the ordination of women as priests was a major point of contention for many liberal Catholics, as was the Vatican's slow response under his leadership to sex scandals around the world, especially in the United States.

At the same time he won praise, especially but not exclusively among conservatives, for his unwavering position that Catholic beliefs - for example on the sanctity of life - are not subject to popular opinion.

John Paul was the first pope to publicly ask forgiveness for the Church's past sins - including mistreatment of Jews and other non-believers.

"For the role that each one of us has had, with his behavior, in these evils, contributing to a disfigurement of the face of the Church, we humbly ask forgiveness," said the pontiff on the altar at St. Peter's five years ago, in remarks some hailed as a landmark but others thought fell short of the mark in not specifically mentioning the Holocaust.

The pope's last battle began with a heart attack on March 31. He was revived, but the Vatican said he suffered from septic shock, a urinary tract infection and a high fever.

He was not shy about anticipating his own death, saying in a "Letter to the Elderly" issued in 1999: "I find great peace in thinking of the time when the Lord will call me: from life to life!"

"When the moment of our definitive 'passage' comes," said the pontiff, "grant that we may face it with serenity, without regret for what we shall leave behind."

[Jesus Christ]

Welcome, My servant Karol Wojtyla, into thy eternal home

[Phil theStalker]

Originally posted by Jesus Christ
Welcome, My servant Karol Wojtyla, into thy eternal home

I'm studying how the HAND AFF G-D plays int2o all aff dis.

Who will be-ahh da next-ah pope-ah?

What feeding tube dis week and not last week in Florida?

When is FORD going t2o mass?

Where is da NWO going t2o hijack dis f4or their advantage.

Why t2oday and not yesterday?

How da fak am I supposed t2o know?

[Jesus Christ]

Dad worketh in mysterious ways, Phillip.