|
|
Signup to Pray |
You must log in.
|
|
Pray for Me |
You must log in.
|
|
Online Bible |
Jonah 2:8
They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
_VIEW_CONTEXT |
|
|
|
 |
Posted by: JG on Saturday, April 02, 2005 - 11:11 AM
|
 |
 |
Will you come and join the thousands who have gathered to say goodbye to the pope. Over 40,000 have filled St. Peter's Square to pray and say Goodbye. You can join them live via Video Cam this is really exciting.
 |  | | Please click here to join them in prayer live |
April 2 Thousands of people streamed into St. Peter's Square today, many lingering below the window of the apartment where Pope John Paul II lays on his deathbed, keeping vigil as the pontiff's condition deteriorates.
The basilica of St. Peter's was open for visitors and a line of people snaked through one side of the semicircular colonnade leading to the church that the pope has presided over during his 26-year pontificate, the third longest in history.
``I'm here to pray that the pope will be welcomed in heaven,'' said Massimo Passoni, 50, a Roman, who was 24 years old when John Paul was selected as pope in 1978.
A line of police barricades closed off the semicircular mouth of the plaza, which has an oval shape. A line of tripods gripping cameras and their two-foot telephoto lenses pointed at windows of the pope's apartment, above the marble columns.
Last night, the crowd in the square swelled to more than 40,000. Archbishop Angelo Comastri, the vicar for Vatican City, led them in reciting the Rosary, telling the crowd that ``Christ is opening the door to the pope.'' The Vatican kept the plaza open all night to accommodate pilgrims and spectators.
The pontiff is slipping in and out of consciousness and his medical condition remains ``very grave,'' Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a briefing at 11:30 a.m. today.
 | | This is a live webcam from the Vatican. Click here |
``I know he really loves people,'' Italy's Minister for European Affairs Rocco Buttiglione said in an interview. ``When I first met him, I touched his hand and he gave me the impression that he would give up his life for people.''
``We came just to be here and we will stay as long as feel what we are feeling now,'' said Cristiana Pizzingrilli, who crossed the city on her moped to be at the Vatican. ``I can't explain it. There is just such silence in this square.''
Please click above for whole article....
|
Will you come and join the thousands who have gathered to say goodbye to the pope. Over 40,000 have filled St. Peter's Square to pray and say Goodbye. You can join them live via Video Cam
 |  | | Please click here to join them in prayer live |
April 2 Thousands of people streamed into St. Peter's Square today, many lingering below the window of the apartment where Pope John Paul II lays on his deathbed, keeping vigil as the pontiff's condition deteriorates.
The basilica of St. Peter's was open for visitors and a line of people snaked through one side of the semicircular colonnade leading to the church that the pope has presided over during his 26-year pontificate, the third longest in history.
``I'm here to pray that the pope will be welcomed in heaven,'' said Massimo Passoni, 50, a Roman, who was 24 years old when John Paul was selected as pope in 1978.
A line of police barricades closed off the semicircular mouth of the plaza, which has an oval shape. A line of tripods gripping cameras and their two-foot telephoto lenses pointed at windows of the pope's apartment, above the marble columns.
Last night, the crowd in the square swelled to more than 40,000. Archbishop Angelo Comastri, the vicar for Vatican City, led them in reciting the Rosary, telling the crowd that ``Christ is opening the door to the pope.'' The Vatican kept the plaza open all night to accommodate pilgrims and spectators.
The pontiff is slipping in and out of consciousness and his medical condition remains ``very grave,'' Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a briefing at 11:30 a.m. today.
`Welcomed in Heaven'
 Polish-born Karol Jozef Wojtyla has held the throne of St. Peter for more than 26 years, the third-longest pontificate in history. 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.
Across town at San Giovanni in Laterano, the church overseen by the pope in his role as Bishop of Rome, some of Italy's top politicians last night came to hear Cardinal Camillo Ruini lead a special mass for the ailing pontiff. Ruini is also the cardinal who will be responsible for announcing the death of John Paul II to the world.
Politicians from Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's ruling coalition and the parties of the opposition suspended campaigning for regional elections on Sunday and Monday and many turned up at the mass. Berlusconi, President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and Romano Prodi, leader of the opposition and former European Union Commission president, were also at the service.
``I know he really loves people,'' Italy's Minister for European Affairs Rocco Buttiglione said in an interview. ``When I first met him, I touched his hand and he gave me the impression that he would give up his life for people.''
`Proud'
| | This is a live webcam from the Vatican. Click here |
``We came just to be here and we will stay as long as feel what we are feeling now,'' said Cristiana Pizzingrilli, who crossed the city on her moped to be at the Vatican. ``I can't explain it. There is just such silence in this square.''
At 7:00 a.m. today in Wadowice, the pope's birthplace in south-eastern Poland, the Sacrifice for Saint Mary of the Virgin Church filled with people praying for the pope's health.
``I'm proud of him,'' said Czeslawa Tyrybon, 73, who was standing in front of the church. ``He's more than a moral authority. I can't define how much he means to me.'' Article from April 2 (Bloomberg)
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
