Pope’s condition is very serious

The health crisis for pope came one day after he began to receive the nutrition through the feeding tube. Two television networks said the pope, whose blood pressure had plunged, received the Roman Catholic sacrament for the sick and dying. The ritual, an anointment with special oils that had long been known as the last rites, is often administered just before death, although it is also given to ill patients who seek healing.

The Vatican officials could not be reached for comment on those reports, but the mood among senior church officials was gloomy.”He is approaching, as far as a person can tell, the end of his life,” Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, the archbishop of Vienna, told the Austrian news agency APA. Late reports describe Pope John Paul II with falling blood pressure, a high fever and a urinary tract infection.

Carole Mikita is at the Cathedral of the Madeleine tonight… with reaction here and around the world. Dick, people gathered at the Vatican to pray for the pope to recover as news broke today that he has taken a turn for the worse. A crowd gathered on the edge of St. Peter’s Square after the Vatican announced Pope John Paul II has suffered another setback.