Pope John Paul II dies Roman Catholic church's leader succumbs after lengthy illness
In his final public appearance Wednesday, Pope John Paul II gave a blessing from his studio window overlooking St. Peter's square at the Vatican. BREAKING NEWS MSNBC staff and news service reports Updated: 3:30 p.m. ET April 2, 2005 VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II, who headed the Roman Catholic Church for 26 years, died on Saturday evening, the Vatican said in a statement. The news was immediately announced to around 60,000 gathered in St Peter's Square and was met with a long applause, an Italian sign of respect. Bells tolled and many people wept openly. "Our Holy Father John Paul, 84, has returned to the house of the Father," Archbishop Leonardo Sandri told the crowds. "The Holy Father died this evening at 9:37 p.m. in his private apartment. All the procedures outlined in the apostolic Constitution `Universi Dominici Gregis' that was written by John Paul II on Feb. 22, 1996, have been put in motion." Papal spokesman makes announcement The announcement came from papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls and was distributed to journalists via e-mail. - Forwarded by Gaspar Almeida, Associate, www.goa-world.com Pick of the day: http://www.mangalorean.com Thomas Stephens Konkani Kendr http://www.tskk.org/ The Goan Forum http://www.colaco.net/ Gulf-Goans e-Newsletter http://www.goa-world.com/ __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/
