« Happy National Pulse Day | Main | Great Moments in Chattanooga Opinion Writing »
April 01, 2005
Pope John Paul II Suffers Heart Failure, Receives Last Rites
The New York Times is reporting that the Pope "suffered a series of serious blows to his already weak system on Thursday, including heart and circulatory collapse." Last rites have been administered -- the first time this has happened since a 1981 assassination attempt -- and British news wires said that the Pope remains in his apartment overlooking St. Peter's Square:
John Paul asked aides to read him the biblical passage describing the final stage of the Way of the Cross, the path that Christ took to his crucifixion, (spokesman Joaquin) Navarro-Valls said. In that stage, according to the Bible, Christ’s body was taken down from the cross, wrapped in a linen shroud and placed in his tomb... Navarro-Valls said the pope followed attentively and made the sign of the cross.
Whatever your opinions of the Catholic church, especially after the chaos in Florida this week, it seems obvious that John Paul's faithful courage and calm are the very definition of a "dignified" death. Human dignity, after all, is about more than dying when and how you want to.
| By mesh | 12:41 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://chattablogs.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/20006
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Pope John Paul II Suffers Heart Failure, Receives Last Rites:
