{"id":46803,"date":"2020-04-02T15:14:52","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T13:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www1.romereports.com\/2020\/04\/02\/remembering-john-paul-iis-final-hours-15-years-later\/"},"modified":"2025-04-01T18:02:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T16:02:27","slug":"remembering-john-paul-iis-final-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/2020\/04\/02\/remembering-john-paul-iis-final-hours\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering John Paul II's final hours"},"content":{"rendered":"

Learn more about his life with this documentary: 'John Paul 'the Great,' a Pope Who Made History.'<\/a> <\/p>\n

Available on Rome Reports Premium<\/p>\n

----------<\/p>\n

While St. Peter's Square currently looks like this, April 2, 2005, it was like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay our prayerful silence accompany these first moments of the Holy Father John Paul II with Christ in Heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Paul II's health began to decline two months earlier, on the night of Feb. 1, 2005, when he was urgently hospitalized at Gemelli Hospital.<\/p>\n

He had breathing difficulties, the flu, and a swollen throat.<\/p>\n

For a few weeks, this hospital in Rome became a pilgrimage destination. Hundreds of people visited, just to be near to him. John Paul II greeted them often from the 10th floor window of the clinic.<\/p>\n

At the end of February, they did an emergency tracheotomy. He couldn't speak, but he did not stop seeing pilgrims.<\/p>\n

CARD. DAR\u00cdO CASTRILL\u00d3N<\/strong>
\n'We will never hear the Holy Father speak again. In the worst case, when the president of a major company cannot speak, he can write.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

That year, the pope was unable to attend the Easter ceremonies.<\/p>\n

FR. RANIERO CANTALAMESSA<\/strong>
\nPreacher of the Pontifical House
\n'Come back soon, Holy Father. Easter without you is not really Easter.'<\/em><\/p>\n

CARD. SERGIO SEBASTIANI<\/strong>
\n'We are witnessing the Passion of Christ, but also the Passion of the representative of Christ.'<\/em><\/p>\n

This was his last blessing to the pilgrims, on Wednesday, March 30. It was painful gesture, representative of his final hours.<\/p>\n

The day after, he could no longer celebrate Mass, and received the viaticum, his last communion.<\/p>\n

The pope's spokesman confirmed the end was near.<\/p>\n

JOAQU\u00cdN NAVARRO-VALLS<\/strong>
\n'The pope is conscious, extraordinarily calm, with the relative problems of respiratory distress. It's a new image for me. Logical shortness of breath... If there is anything new we will stay in touch.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In those last few hours, thousands of people went to St. Peter's Square to say goodbye to him.<\/p>\n

The light went on in his room and it was confirmed - something had happened. It was 9:37 p.m. on April 2, 2005.<\/p>\n

The loud clanging of a Vatican bell also mourned his death.<\/p>\n

In the Apostolic Palace, the ritual of recognition and the blessing of his remains took place. Then also, the destruction of his ring and sealing of his apartments.<\/p>\n

Then, the burning chamber in the basilica was opened.<\/p>\n

An estimated three million people came to pay him homage.<\/p>\n

Many leaders came to his funeral. For a few hours, they seemed to put aside any disputes, as a tribute to a common friend.<\/p>\n

CARD. JOSEPH RATZINGER<\/strong>
\nWe can be sure that our beloved pope is now at the window of the Father's house. He sees us and he blesses us. Yes, bless us, Holy Father.<\/em><\/p>\n

During Mass, a meaningful and spontaneous cry arose.<\/p>\n

Thousands of people asked the Church to declare him a saint as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

It didn't take long. Benedict XVI celebrated his beatification in record time, just six years later.<\/p>\n

Later Pope Francis officially declared him a saint on April 27, 2014.<\/p>\n

His tomb, in St. Peter's Basilica, is now one of the most-visited places by pilgrims.<\/p>\n

For many, John Paul II is more than a saint. He's a father, a friend and also, an intercessor.<\/p>\n

JMB
\nTranslation: Melissa Butz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 2, 2025. It's been 20 years since the death of the pope, who marked an era in Catholic history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":758,"featured_media":76014,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[161],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/nBw4ryLjP8I","video_descarga":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bjuanpabloIIeng.mp4","international_url":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bjuanpabloIIint.mp4","type":"rrp","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46803"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/758"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46803"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76020,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46803\/revisions\/76020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}