From
The NYT:
Pope John Paul II is still conscious but his health remains "very grave," the Vatican announced this morning, after he suffered a series of serious blows to his already weak system on Thursday, including heart and circulatory collapse.
At a news conference here early this afternoon, the pope's normally unflappable spokesman, Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls, came close to tears when asked his own feelings about what seemed the end of the life and pontificate of John Paul II, whose long and transforming papacy began in October 1978.
"Certainly, this is an image that I haven't seen before in these 26 years," he said, his voice breaking up. "The pope is lucid and extraordinarily serene but of course he can't breathe."
The apparent nearness of death set off concern - but some degree of relief, too, that the pope may be released from his long and painful years of illness - around the world: Expressions of grief spilled over in Rome, where St. Peter's Square was clogged with thousands of the faithful; in his home country of Poland; in Asia and Latin America, where the church has grown strongly under John Paul II's reign.
I highlighted the word "released" as the ironic contrast to the attitudes on Schiavo could not be ignored.
In any event, it appears this papal tenure is nearing its end.