The world mourns Pope John Paul II
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Title : Vatican mourns Pope John Paul II with mass in St Peter's square
Date : 03 April 2005 1821 hrs (SST)
VATICAN CITY : Grief swept across the world Sunday as more than 100,000 people packed the Vatican's cobblestoned square and surrounding streets for a huge open-air mass in memory of Pope John Paul II, their "father and shepherd".
"It is true. Our soul is shaken by a painful event. Our father and shepherd, John Paul II has left us," said Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the dead pope's secretary of state, said at the mass concelebrated with dozens of cardinals.
"For 26 years he carried the Gospel of Christian hope to all the squares around the world, teaching everyone that our death is only a passage to the heavenly fatherland," said Sodano in his homily.
Sodano, present at the Pope's bedside as he passed away late Saturday, said the 84-year-old pontiff, who battled crippling illness for months, had died a serene death.
"I was a witness to this serenity as I stood praying by the agonizing Pope's bedside," said Sodano, straying from his prepared text.
"Serenity is the fruit of faith," he added.
The mass was celebrated in the square overlooked by the pope's apartment, where he passed away surrounded by aides at 21:37 pm (1937 GMT) the night before, and from where he made the last of his twice-weekly blessings to pilgrims last Wednesday.
The Polish-born Pope's name was greeted with tumultuous applause by the huge crowd at the beginning of the mass, attended by the entire Italian cabinet.
Choral music swept around the walls of the Renaissance basilica and the Apostolic Palace where the 84-year-old pontiff passed away surrounded by his closest aides.
The huge crowd of pilgrims filled the square and the broad avenue leading up to the Vatican, Via della Conciliazione.
A black woman wearing a bright orange traditional African dress stood by a white man wearing a mourning suit, both of them holding their hands clasped in front of them, their heads bowed in prayer.
During the mass the only sounds in the square were children fidgeting and the occasional cell phone which Italians are always reticent to turn off.
"For us Africans it is a day of great mourning," said the Archbishop of Kisangani, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Laurent Monsengwo, who was among the mourners.
"For Africa it is as if the father of the Church had died," said the archbishop, although he said he was not worried about the future of the Church.
"The Church will continue, the Church cannot die," he said.
The mass was to be followed at noon by a Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven) prayer which replaces the Angelus prayer traditionally said by the Pope.
Earlier, after a special cabinet meeting to discuss John Paul II's death, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi led his ministers to the mass.
The cabinet met earlier Sunday to finalise arrangements as Rome prepared to greet an expected two million pilgrims and world leaders for John Paul II's funeral later this week.
Across Rome, flags were at half mast on public buildings as Italy began the first of three days of mourning for the dead Pope.
A few thousand pilgrims had spent the entire night on the cobblestones, praying and singing, left over from a crowd more than 100,000 strong that had filled the square late Saturday on the news of the pontiff's demise.
Throughout the weekend, tributes expressed sorrow, but also gratitude for the Pope's unstinting battle for freedom.
Homage came from the strongly Roman Catholic regions of Latin America, Africa and much of Europe, as well as countries such as the United States, Britain, Israel and even communist China and Cuba.
Amid the grieving, there was speculation as to who will succeed John Paul II.
A highly ritualised election process will begin April 17 at the earliest in the form of a conclave of cardinals, who will lock themselves in the Sistine Chapel until a new pontiff is chosen.
Its archaic traditions, many dating back centuries, contrast with the modern style in which John Paul II's death was announced by the Holy See -- in a brief statement sent to journalists by e-mail after a mobile telephone text alert.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls later said the pope died after a bedside mass celebrated by aides during which he was given the last rites.
Italian media reports said the pontiff slipped away while holding the hand of his personal secretary, Polish Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz. His last word was said to be "amen".
His body, once embalmed, is to be taken to St Peter's Basilica on Monday afternoon for the faithful to file past in homage.
Cardinals are to hold a congregation Monday to plan the pontiff's funeral. He is to be buried between Wednesday and Friday. Italy's ANSA news agency, citing reliable sources, said it would take place Thursday at the earliest.
John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope in four-and-a-half centuries, and the first from eastern Europe.
Born Karol Wojtyla in humble conditions in Poland, he became head of the Church in October 1978 at age 58 and set about imprinting his agenda and warm, communicative style on it.
Eschewing the pomp of predecessors, he won over crowds and statesmen alike with his commitment to peace and fighting poverty.
His support of the Solidarity trade union when it was banned in communist Poland was credited with helping start a chain reaction that led to the fall of the pro-Soviet regimes which had held half the continent in their thrall for 40 years.
But he also dismayed many followers with his deeply conservative views on sex and contraception in the age of AIDS.
- AFP -
Title : Prayers held across India for dead Pope
Date : 03 April 2005 1812 hrs (SST)
NEW DELHI : Across India prayers have been held for the soul of Pope John Paul II, as the president and prime minister joined the country's 16 million Catholics in expressing sorrow over the pontiff's death.
Nuns at the Missionaries of Charity, the home of Mother Teresa in Kolkata, have fond memories of the Pope.
The pontiff had visited the missionary, but more importantly in 2003 he beatified Mother Teresa, setting her on the track to sainthood.
For the past few days and nights there have been special prayers for the Pope and candlelight vigils at the Missionary.
His death plunged the nuns into gloom.
The head of the order of nuns hailed the Pope as a "great visionary" as she prepared to head for Rome for the pontiff's funeral.
In New Delhi, the head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India led Indians in tearful prayers.
Said Father Babu Joseph, spokesperson of the Catholic Bishop's Conference of India, "Since we received the news we have been organising prayer meetings in our churches, in our pilgrim centres, in our religious houses, for the repose of the soul of the Holy Father Pope John Paul II.
"Having said that when I think of the Holy Father, I am also proud of him. Although we miss him from our midst, and it is a great loss for a long time to come, I feel proud because he has left behind a very expansive legacy, a legacy that will not be forgotten for generations to come."
For the Catholic community in India, the death of the Pope was very much a personal loss.
Pope John Paul II had become close to Catholics as well as other Indians for the charisma and warmth he held out during his visits here in 1986 and 1999.
His values of freedom and social justice, and his embrace of the diversity of all religions endeared him to all in India. - CNA -
Title : Cardinal Sodano begins mass for dead Pope in St Peter's Square
Date : 03 April 2005 1747 hrs (SST)
ROME : More than 100,000 people, including the entire Italian cabinet, were attending a special mass in memory of Pope John Paul II at St Peter's square Sunday presided over by the late Pope's secretary of state Cardinal Angelo Sodano.
The Pope's name was greeted with tumultuous applause by the huge crowd at the beginning of the mass, concelebrated by dozens of cardinals on the steps of St Peter's basilica.
Choral music swept around the walls of the Renaissance basilica and the Apostolic Palace where the 84-year-old pontiff passed away late Saturday surrounded by his closest aides.
The huge crowd of pilgrims filled the square and the broad avenue leading up to the Vatican, Via della Conciliazione.
The mass was to be followed at noon by a Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven) prayer which replaces the Angelus prayer traditionally said by the Pope.
Earlier, after a special cabinet meeting to discuss John Paul II's death, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi led his ministers to the mass.
The cabinet met earlier Sunday to finalise arrangements as Rome prepared to greet an expected two million pilgrims and world leaders for John Paul II's funeral later this week.
- AFP -
Title : Mourners ready to bid farewell to Pope
Date : 03 April 2005 1740 hrs (SST)
Crowds prepare for a mass in St. Peter's Square.
VATICAN CITY : Still bursting into occasional song after an overnight vigil, several thousand young people prepared for an open-air mass in the Vatican in honour of Pope John Paul II.
With their songs, their sleeping bags and their candles, the atmosphere on Saint Peter's Square was not the sombre emotion which greeted the long-feared announcement late Saturday that the 84-year-old pope had died.
More than 100,000 people had congregated on the square then, but the crowds dwindled as the night wore on.
Many of the youths sitting around in groups had not even been born when he began his pontificate 26 years ago but they said they felt drawn to him.
"The death of anyone is always something terrible," said Emanuele, 26, "but here young people respond by singing, it's quite wonderful."
"It's for him that we, the young, are turning this sad night into an almost happy celebration."
As dawn broke and the sun started to rise over the colonnaded piazza, more and more people arrived, some seeking early places before a mass due at 10:30 am (0830 GMT).
The ceremony was to be led by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state and effectively the late pope's number two.
During his papacy, the pontiff repeatedly stressed that the young held the key to the future of the Roman Catholic Church even if he refused to sway from his deeply held conservative views on issues such as abortion, euthanasia and contraception.
Valerio Carapella, 25, had learned almost by heart the words attributed to the pope as he lay on his deathbed late Friday.
"I have looked for you. Now you have come to me. And I thank you," the pope was reported to have said after listening to thousands of youths chanting and praying for him outside his apartment window.
Carapella, sitting with his friends around a rainbow flag like those waved by peace marchers in protest at the war in Iraq -- a conflict the pontiff also opposed -- lit a cigarette, offered a beer round and said, "to us, he was, is and will be the only pope."
He recalled attending World Youth Day celebrations in Paris in 1997 and in Rome in 2000, created on the initiative of the Polish-born pope.
"Every race was represented there, every country, we were all brothers," he said.
"Obviously it's difficult being 25 today and following the path demanded by the Church," acknowledged Gabriele Turni, referring to the pope's position on social issues. "But everyone can follow it in their own fashion."
Earlier, in the hours after the pope's death was announced, an 11-year-old boy knelt on the cobblestones, his eyes wet with tears.
"It's as if my father had died," said the boy, Federico Fava. "I was never able to see him."
Tens of thousands were already on the square preparing for a night's vigil for the pope when news of his death was announced.
"There was a great silence," said Martteo Reccelli, of the northern Italian city of Rovigo. "It was a silence that said so much.
"He was a great man, not only in the religious sense."
- AFP -
Title : Pope's body seen on television for first time
Date : 03 April 2005 2003 hrs (SST)
VATICAN CITY : The body of Pope John Paul II was shown on television for the first time, as Vatican and Italian officials began filing past to pay their last respects.
The Pope, his face serene, was dressed in red and white vestments and a white mitre. He was laid out on a raised velvet-draped dais flanked by two Swiss Guards.
A crucifix, crooked in an elbow, flanked his body to the left. His head, propped on velvet pillows, leaned slightly to the right. On his feet were brown leather shoes.
Among the first dignitaries to step before the corpse was Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.
Ciampi was accompanied by his wife Franca, who wore a black veil. They were followed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and members of the Italian cabinet.
Dozens of officials and cardinals of the Roman Curia, or Vatican government, were also lining up to file past in the hushed room.
The Pope's body was lying in state in the Clementine Room on the second floor of the Apostolic Palace for officials.
- AFP -
Title : Millions in the Philippines mourn loss of much-loved Pope
Date : 03 April 2005 0621 hrs (SST)
MANILA : Roman Catholics throughout the Philippines were in mourning following the death of Pope John Paul II.
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo led the nation in expressing a "deep sense of grief" over the death of Pope John Paul II, a highly-revered figure in this largely Catholic nation of 84 million.
The 84-year-old pontiff died Saturday after a long struggle against crippling infirmity.
"Our people receive the news of his death with a deep sense of grief and loss," Arroyo, a devout Catholic, said in a statement.
"He was a holy champion of the Filipino family and of profound Christian values that make everyone of us contemplate everyday, what is just, moral and sacred in life," Arroyo said.
"The world will miss a great spiritual bridge among all nations," she said, adding that "the weak and oppressed will always remember their hero and advocate who sowed peace and love by his awesome charisma and noble deeds".
Throughout the country masses were being held for the Pope as church bells tolled across Manila.
A spokesman for the Apostolic Nunciature (Holy See) in Manila said a special mass would be held for the Pope on Wednesday at the 400-year-old Manila Cathedral.
He said a special book of condolence had been opened for diplomats, government officials and "the people".
As news of the Pope's death began to spread during the morning people started lining up outside the Holy See's office in Manila to sign the condolence book.
Marlon Mendoza, a Manila taxi driver, said he was "saddened" by the news.
"He was a great man ... a man of peace and he loved our country," he said.
"I feel sad that he is no longer with us but I know he is with God so that makes me happy," he said.
Father Fausto Gomez, former dean of theology at the University of Santo Tomas, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer: "We will always remember him with love for those two papal visits."
The Pope visited the Philippine, Asia's biggest Catholic nation, in 1981 and 1995 which drew crowds numbering the millions.
Gomez said: "His will be remembered as a rich papacy.
"Time magazine was right when in choosing the Pope as its man of the year in 1994, wrote 'he generates electricity unmatched by anyone'."
Gomes described him as the "missionary of the world."
He said his visits to the Philippines "emphasised the importance of the Philippines to the Church of the world".
"He showed that the Philippines is the pulpit for Asia. He spoke radical words regarding social justice for the poor, promotion of human rights and religious freedom. He emphasised both sexual morals and social ethics. The world was really his parish," he told the Inquirer.
The Philippines is the only bastion of Roman Catholicism in Asia with almost 80 percent of the country's population, or around 68.7 million people, identified as Catholics.
The faith was introduced to the Philippines by Spanish colonialists in the 16th century.
- AFP -
VATICAN CITY : Pope John Paul II's body was put on display before the world as more than 100,000 people packed St Peter's cobblestoned square for a huge open-air mass in memory of their "father and shepherd".
Television images showed the body lying in state for the first time since the pontiff died Saturday, aged 84.
The pope, his face serene, was dressed in red and white vestments and a white mitre. He was laid out on a raised velvet-draped dais flanked by two Swiss Guards in the Clementine Room on the third floor of the Apostolic Palace.
A crucifix, crooked in an elbow, flanked his body to the left. His head, propped on velvet pillows, leaned slightly to the right. On his feet were brown leather shoes.
Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, the Cardinal Camerlengo or temporary leader of the Catholic Church until the election of a new pope, stepped forward to sprinkle holy water over John Paul II's body and recited a funerary prayer.
Dozens of officials and cardinals of the Roman Curia, or Vatican government, lined up to file past the pope's body in the hushed room, as well as Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and cabinet ministers.
"It is true. Our soul is shaken by a painful event. Our father and shepherd, John Paul II has left us," Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the dead pope's secretary of state, said at the solemn mass which he concelebrated with dozens of cardinals.
"For 26 years he carried the Gospel of Christian hope to all the squares around the world, teaching everyone that our death is only a passage to the heavenly fatherland," said Sodano in his homily.
Sodano, present at the pope's bedside as he passed away late Saturday, said the 84-year-old pontiff, who battled crippling illness for months, had died a serene death.
"I was a witness to this serenity as I stood praying by the agonizing pope's bedside," the 77-year-old cardinal said, straying from his prepared text.
Deeply saddened pilgrims also heard their beloved pope's last message to them, which was read out by an aide.
"Love converts hearts and gives peace," said the message, read out by Archbishop Leonardo Sandri.
Sandri, who had become the pope's spokesman at public liturgies as the frail pontiff's voice failed, said he was reading the message with "nostalgia".
The huge crowd burst into tumultuous applause as the pope's portrait was shown on giant screens erected around the square while the message was read out.
On hearing it, many people broke into tears.
"To humanity, which sometimes seems to be lost and dominated by the power of evil, selfishness and fear, the risen Lord gives the gift of his love which forgives, reconciles and reopens the soul to hope," it added.
The mass was celebrated in the square overlooked by the pope's apartment, where he passed away surrounded by aides at 21:37 pm (1937 GMT) the night before, and from where he made the last of his twice-weekly blessings to pilgrims last Wednesday.
The Polish-born pope's name was greeted with tumultuous applause by the huge crowd at the beginning of the mass, attended by the entire Italian cabinet.
Choral music swept around the walls of the Renaissance basilica and the Apostolic Palace where the 84-year-old pontiff passed away surrounded by his closest aides.
The huge crowd of pilgrims filled the square and the broad avenue leading up to the Vatican, Via della Conciliazione.
A black woman wearing a bright orange traditional African dress stood by a white man wearing a mourning suit, both of them holding their hands clasped in front of them, their heads bowed in prayer.
During the mass the only sounds in the square were children fidgeting and the occasional cell phone which Italians are always reticent to turn off.
"For us Africans it is a day of great mourning," said the Archbishop of Kisangani, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Laurent Monsengwo, who was among the mourners.
"For Africa it is as if the father of the Church had died," said the archbishop, although he said he was not worried about the future of the Church.
"The Church will continue, the Church cannot die," he said.
Earlier, after a special cabinet meeting to discuss John Paul II's death, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi led his ministers to the mass.
The cabinet met earlier Sunday to finalise arrangements as Rome prepared to greet an expected two million pilgrims and world leaders for John Paul II's funeral later this week.
Across Rome, flags were at half mast on public buildings as Italy began the first of three days of mourning for the dead pope.
Amid the grieving, there was speculation as to who will succeed John Paul II.
A highly ritualised election process will begin April 17 at the earliest in the form of a conclave of cardinals, who will lock themselves in the Sistine Chapel until a new pontiff is chosen.
Its archaic traditions, many dating back centuries, contrast with the modern style in which John Paul II's death was announced by the Holy See -- in a brief statement sent to journalists by e-mail after a mobile telephone text alert.
Cardinals are to hold a congregation Monday to plan the pontiff's funeral. He is to be buried between Wednesday and Friday. Italy's ANSA news agency, citing reliable sources, said it would take place Thursday at the earliest.
John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope in four-and-a-half centuries, and the first from eastern Europe.
Born Karol Wojtyla in humble conditions in Poland, he became head of the Church in October 1978 at age 58 and set about imprinting his agenda and warm, communicative style on it.
Eschewing the pomp of predecessors, he won over crowds and statesmen alike with his commitment to peace and fighting poverty.
His support of the Solidarity trade union when it was banned in communist Poland was credited with helping start a chain reaction that led to the fall of the pro-Soviet regimes which had held half the continent in their thrall for 40 years.
But he also dismayed many followers with his deeply conservative views on sex and contraception in the age of AIDS.
- AFP