The Final Hours of Pope John Paul II

John Doe

English

Mrs. Robinson

03/24/03

The Final Hours of Pope John Paul II

It was Saturday, April 2, around 2:30 PM, when the Pope John Paul II passed away. Hours before, thousands of people clogged Rome's streets of Peters Square, as the Pope John Paul II awaited his passing. Tourists, Romans and religious followers gathered to show their regards. This was no easy passing for the Pope, he lead nearly one billion Catholics over his twenty-six year papacy. In his last hour, everyone noticed a sense of finality with Pope John Paul II and his life.

Only 46 days short of his 85 birthday, Pope John Paul II died at age 84. The Pope had many worsening health conditions including a heart condition, pneumonia and Parkinson's disease, but in the end it was heart failure that got him. The Pope made one more final appearance to the world on March 30th. He gave a 10 minute appearance, where he struggled to speak, but he couldn't. It was both saddening for many to watch, but for some, it was inspirational. Because even in his final days of life on earth the Pope tried to show everyone "that the Pope is not an idol but a human being that can be deprived of all"- Rome's Repubblica Newspaper.

For the past 10 years the Pope had a neurological disorder that doctors thought was Parkinson's disease. The Pope John Paul II had been hospitalized in late February for having spasms. After he was hospitalized he received a tracheotomy, to make it easier for him to breath. The doctors hooked him up to a feeding tube. It was only a little while later when his infection got worse. He started having fevers and septic shock, which, in the end, lead to his overall heart failure. It was now that people started to realize that "The Pope might not make it out of this one", like he had survived that assassination attempt in 1981.

The Pope John Paul II papacy was remarkable. Despite all of his physical problems the Pope still traveled the world spreading his faith and religion onto others. His papacy will go down in history. He led an "army of god" as Newsweek said an army of nearly 1 billion religious followers. Even in his older years he still made trips around the world to visit people and restore their