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Ärende: SPECIAL EDITION - Vatican Information Service.
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                         VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
                            HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE
                    V.I.S.    VIS internet   Press Office

     
      04.02.2005 
           Fifteenth Year  - N.61  
        
      SUMMARY:  THE DEATH OF POPE JOHN PAUL II

      - POPE JOHN PAUL II DIES AT 84
      - TENS OF THOUSANDS THRONG TO ST. PETER'S TO PRAY FOR POPE
      - FUNCTIONS OF THE CAMERLENGO FOLLOWING THE POPE'S DEATH
      - THE 26 YEARS OF JOHN PAUL II: 3RD LONGEST PAPACY IN HISTORY

      ___________________________________________________________

      POPE JOHN PAUL II DIES AT 84

      VATICAN CITY, APR 2, 2005 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office
Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls made the following announcement this
evening:

       "The Holy Father died at 9.37 this evening in his private
apartment.

        "At 8 p.m. the celebration of Mass for Divine Mercy Sunday
began in the Holy Father's room, presided by Archbishop Stanislaw
Dziwisz with the participation of Cardinal Marian Jaworski, of 
Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko and of Msgr. Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki.

        "During the course of the Mass, the Viaticum was
administered to the Holy Father and, once again, the Sacrament of
Anointing of the Sick.

        "The Holy Father's final hours were marked by the
uninterrupted prayer of all those who were assisting him in his
pious death, and by the choral participation in prayer of the
thousands of faithful who, for many hours, had been gathered in St.
Peter's Square.

        "Present at the moment of the death of John Paul II were:
his two personal secretaries Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz and Msgr.
Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, Cardinal Marian Jaworski, Archbishop Stanislaw
Rylko, Fr. Tadeusz Styczen, the three nuns, Handmaidens of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, who assist in the Holy Father's apartment,
guided by the Superior Sr. Tobiana Sobodka, and the Pope's personal
physician Dr. Renato Buzzonetti, with the two doctors on call, Dr.
Alessandro Barelli and Dr. Ciro D'Allo, and the two nurses on call.

        "Immediately afterwards Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo
Sodano arrived, as did the camerlengo of Holy Roman Church, Cardinal
Eduardo Martinez Somalo, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, substitute of
the Secretariat of State, and Archbishop Paolo Sardi,
vice-camerlengo of Holy Roman Church.

        "Thereafter, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, dean of the College
of Cardinals, and Cardinal Jozef Tomko also arrived.

        "Tomorrow, Divine Mercy Sunday, at 10.30 a.m., a Mass for
the repose of the soul of the Holy Father will be celebrated in St.
Peter's Square, presided over by Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

        "At 12 noon, the Marian prayer of Easter time, the Regina
Coeli, will be recited.

        "The body of the late pontiff is expected to be brought to
the Vatican Basilica no earlier than Monday afternoon.

        "The first General Congregation of Cardinals will be held at
10 a.m. on Monday April 4 in the Bologna Hall of the Apostolic
Palace." OP/DEATH:POPE JOHN PAUL/NAVARRO-VALLS  VIS 050402 (380)

      TENS OF THOUSANDS THRONG TO ST. PETER'S TO PRAY FOR POPE

      VATICAN CITY, APR 2, 2005 (VIS) - Pope John Paul died at 9:37
this evening as more than 70,000 faithful were gathered in St.
Peter's Square to pray the rosary. They had been flowing into the
square all day long - as they had all day yesterday - in ever
increasing numbers, of all ages and from all continents and walks of
life, families large and small, Catholics and non, cardinals and
bishops, priests and seminarians, men and women religious. 

        Following the rosary, presided over by Cardinal Edmund
Szoka, and the announcement by Archbishop Leonardo Sandri to the
crowd in St. Peter's Square that the Pope had died, Cardinal Angelo
Sodano led a prayer for John Paul II. Archbishop Sandri then
announced that Cardinal Sodano would preside at Mass tomorrow
morning at 10:30 in St. Peter's Square.  People remained in the 
square for further prayers as the bell in the left tower of St.
Peter's Basilica began its death toll, one of the s
ignals to the
world that the Pope has died. .../.../...         VIS 050402 (190)

      FUNCTIONS OF THE CAMERLENGO FOLLOWING THE POPE'S DEATH

      VATICAN CITY, APR 2, 2005 (VIS) - In Pope John Paul II's 1996
Apostolic Constitution "Universi Dominici gregis" on the vacancy of
the Apostolic See and the election of the Roman Pontiff, paragraph
17 reads as follows concerning the duties of the camerlengo of Holy
Roman Church, who currently is Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo:

        "As soon as he is informed of the death of the Supreme
Pontiff, the Camerlengo of Holy Roman Church must officially
ascertain the Pope's death, in the presence of the Master of Papal 
Liturgical Celebrations, of the Cleric Prelates of the Apostolic
Camera and of the Secretary and Chancellor of the same; the latter
shall draw up the official death certificate. The Camerlengo must
also place seals on the Pope's study and bedroom, making provision
that the personnel who ordinarily reside in the private apartment
can remain there until after the burial of the Pope, at which time
the entire papal apartment will be sealed; he must notify the
Cardinal Vicar for Rome of the Pope's death, whereupon the latter
shall inform the People of Rome by a special announcement; he shall
notify the Cardinal Archpriest of the Vatican Basilica; he shall
take possession of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican and, either
in person or through a delegate, of the Palaces of the Lateran and
of Castelgandolfo, and exercise custody and administration of the
same; he shall determine, after consulting the heads of the three
Orders of Cardinals, all matters concerning the Pope's burial,
unless during his lifetime the latter had made known his wishes in
this regard; and he shall deal, in the name of and with the consent
of the College of Cardinals, with all matters that circumstances
suggest for safeguarding the rights of the Apostolic See and for its
proper administration. During the vacancy of the Apostolic See, the
Camerlengo of Holy Roman Church has the duty of safeguarding and
administering the goods and temporal rights of the Holy See, with
the help of the three Cardinal Assistants, having sought the views
of the College of Cardinals, once only for less important matters,
and on each occasion when more serious matters arise."
.../CAMERLENGO FUNCTIONS/...            VIS 050402 (360)

      THE 26 YEARS OF JOHN PAUL II: 3RD LONGEST PAPACY IN HISTORY

      VATICAN CITY, APR 2, 2005 (VIS) - At 4:45 in the afternoon of
October 14, 1978, ten days after the funeral of Pope John Paul I,
110 cardinal electors, and 88 persons selected to assist them,
entered into conclave, sealed off from the world, to elect his
successor.

        At 6:18 p.m., on October 16, white smoke appeared from the
small chimney of the Sistine Chapel, thus signaling that the
cardinal electors had chosen a new Roman Pontiff. Twenty-seven 
minutes later, Cardinal Pericle Felici appeared on the central
loggia of St. Peter's Basilica and announced the election of Pope
John Paul II to the See of Peter with the words: "Annuntio vobis 
gaudium magnum Habemus Papam Carolum Wojtyla, qui sibi nomen
imposuit Ioannem Paulum II."

        At 7:15 p.m. the new pontiff, clad in the traditional papal
white, appeared on the same balcony and spoke in Italian the words
now familiar to tens of millions of people around the world: 
"Praised be Jesus Christ!"

        "Dear brothers and sisters," he continued, "we are still all
very saddened by the death of the very dear Pope John Paul I. And
now the most eminent cardinals have called a new bishop of Rome.
They called him from a far-away country, ... far, but always near in
the communion of faith and the Christian tradition. I was afraid in
receiving this nomination, but I did it in the spirit of obedience
to Our Lord and with total trust in his Mother, the Most Holy
Madonna.

        "I don't know if I can express myself well in your - in our
- Italian language. But if I make a mistake, you will correct me.
And so I introduce myself to you all, to confess our common faith,
o
ur hope, our trust in the mother of Christ and of the Church, and
also to begin again on this path of history and of the Church with
the help of God and with that of men."

        John Paul II, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, archbishop of Krakow,
was elected as the 264th Pope on the second ballot of the second day
of the second conclave of 1978, just five months after his 58th
birthday. Six days later, on October 22, 1978, his pastoral ministry
was inaugurated.

        Today, April 2, 2005, marked the 9,664th day of his
pontificate, calculating from October 22, 1978.

        His is the 3rd longest pontificate in the history of the
papacy. The longest was that of St. Peter (precise dates unknown),
followed by Pope Pius IX (1846-78: 31 years, 7 months, 17 days).
       
        In his 26 and a half years as Pope, John Paul II held nine
consistories in which he has created 232 cardinals, of whom one is
"in pectore." He has created all but three of the 117 cardinal
electors who will enter into conclave. 

        From the start of his pontificate, the Holy Father named
over 3,500 of the world's nearly 4,200 bishops. He met each of them
a number of times over the years, particularly when they fulfill 
their quinquennial obligation of a visit "ad limina Apostolorum."

         He has written 14 encyclicals, 14 apostolic exhortations,
11 apostolic constitutions, 42 apostolic letters and 28 Motu proprio
in addition to hundreds of other messages and letters. In 
preparation for the Jubilee Year 2000, Pope John Paul wrote the
Apostolic Letter "Tertio Millennio Adveniente," dated November 10,
1994, and published four days later. He also created the Committee 
for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.

        He wrote five books: Crossing the Threshold of Hope (1994),
Gift and Mystery (1996), Roman Triptych (poetry, 2003), Arise, Let
us Be Going (2004) and Memory and Identity (2005).

        The 84 year-old Pope presided over 15 synods of bishops: six
ordinary (1980, 1983, 1987, 1990, 1994, 2001), one extraordinary
(1985) and eight special assemblies (1980, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997,
1998 (two synods) and 1999). 

        Over the years, the Holy Father undertook 104 pastoral
visits outside Italy, the last of which was to Lourdes in August
2004. He made 143 trips within Italy and nearly 700 within the city 
and diocese of Rome, including visits to 301 of the 325 parishes of
the diocese of which he is bishop, in addition to religious
institutes, universities, seminaries, hospitals, rest homes, prisons
and schools. 

        With his 247 foreign and Italian pastoral visits, Pope John
Paul II reached the 1,167,295 kilometer mark (700,380 miles), that
is, over 28 times the earth's circumference or 3 times the distance
between the earth and moon. 

        While in Rome, the Pope welcomed an average of one million
people per year, including between 400,000-500,000 who attended the
weekly general audiences in addition to those who came for special
liturgical functions such as Christmas and Easter Masses,
beatifications and canonizations. He also received approximately
150,000-180,000 people per year in audiences granted to particular 
groups, heads of state and governments. 

          At the start of John Paul's pontificate the Holy See had
diplomatic relations with 85 countries. It now has relations with
174 countries, as well as with the European Union and the Sovereign
Military Order of Malta. It has relations of a special nature with
the Russian Federation and the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO). 

        According to the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the
Supreme Pontiff, over the past 26 years the Pope has proclaimed
1,339 Blesseds in 143 ceremonies and 483 Saints in 52 ceremonies.

        He founded the John Paul II Institute for the Sahel in
February of 1984, and the "Populorum Progressio" Foundation for the
Indigenous Peoples of Latin America in February of 1992. He also 
founded the Pontifical Academies for Life and for Social Sciences.
In addition, he instituted the World Day of the Sick (celebrated
annually on Februa
ry 11) and World Youth Day (WYD). The 20th youth
day will be celebrated this August in Cologne, Germany. The Pope
himself chose the themes and developed its contents in an annual
Message to the Youth of the World.

        Karol Jozef Wojtyla, known as Pope John Paul II since his
election over 26 years ago, was born in Wadowice, a small city 50
kilometers from Krakow, on May 18, 1920. He was the second of two 
sons born to Karol Wojtyla and Emilia Kaczorowska. His mother died
giving birth to a third child - stillborn - in 1929. His eldest
brother Edmund, a doctor, died in 1932 and his father, a 
non-commissioned army officer, died in 1941.

        He made his First Holy Communion at age 9 and was confirmed
at age 17. Upon graduation from Martin Wadowita high school in
Wadowice, he enrolled in Krakow's Jagiellonian University in 1938 
and in a school for drama.

        The Nazi occupation forces closed the university in 1939 and
young Karol had to work in a quarry and then in a chemical factory
in Solvay to earn his living and to avoid being deported to Germany.

        In 1942, aware of his call to the priesthood, he began
courses in the clandestine seminary of Krakow, run by Cardinal Adam
Stefan Sapieha, archbishop of Krakow. At the same time, Karol 
Wojtyla was one of the pioneers of the "Rhapsodic Theater," also
clandestine.

        After the Second World War, he continued his studies in the
major seminary of Krakow, once it had re-opened, and in the faculty
of theology of the Jagiellonian University, until his priestly 
ordination in Krakow on November 1, 1946.

        Soon after, Cardinal Sapieha sent him to Rome where he
worked under the guidance of the French Dominican,
Garrigou-Lagrange. He finished his doctorate in theology in 1948
with a thesis on the topic of faith in the works of St. John of the
Cross. At that time, during his vacations, he exercised his pastoral
ministry among the Polish immigrants of France, Belgium and Holland.

        In 1948 he returned to Poland and was vicar of various
parishes in Krakow as well as chaplain for the university students
until 1951, when he took up again his studies on philosophy and
theology. In 1953 he defended a thesis on "Evaluation of the
Possibility of Founding a Catholic Ethic on the Ethical System of
Max Scheler" at Lublin Catholic University. Later he became 
professor of moral theology and social ethics in the major seminary
of Krakow and in the Faculty of Theology of Lublin.

        On July 4, 1958, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Krakow
by Pope Pius XII, and was consecrated September 28, 1958, in Wawel
Cathedral, Krakow, by Archbishop Baziak.

        On January 13, 1964, he was named archbishop of Krakow by
Pope Paul VI, who elevated him to the cardinalate on June 26, 1967.

        Besides taking part in Vatican Council II with an important
contribution to the elaboration of the Constitution "Gaudium et
Spes," Cardinal Wojtyla participated in every assembly of the Synod 
of Bishops since it was created by Paul VI in 1967. .../BIO:JOHN
PAUL II/...      VIS 050402 (1500)   


Best regards,
Marc

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