Pope 'Losing Consciousness'

Pope John Paul II's condition remains "very grave," as he is showing the first signs of losing consciousness, the Vatican said Saturday.

The 84-year-old pope's health has rapidly deteriorated, with his heart and kidneys failing after he suffered a urinary tract infection. But John Paul is not technically in a coma and opens his eyes when spoken to, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters.

"Mass was celebrated at 7:30 this morning in the presence of the pope," although the pontiff did not concelebrate the rite, the spokesman said.

"Sometimes it seems as if he were resting with his eyes closed, but when you speak to him, he opens his eyes," Navarro-Valls said.

He said aides had told the 84-year-old pope that thousands of young people were in St. Peter's Square on Friday evening.

"In fact, he seemed to be referring to them when, in his words, and repeated several times, he seemed to have said the following sentence: 'I have looked for you. Now you have come to me. And I thank you,'" the spokesman said.

CBS News Correspondent Allen Pizzey reports that few people expect the pope to recover from his recent spiral of failing health, which is causing his organs to fail.

"His dying is going in such a serene way," Pizzey said, adding that the words Navarro-Valls reports the pope said suggest a message to youth that "life has extreme value."

"He's going: He knows it," Pizzey said. "Everyone knows it."

The Vatican said Friday morning that John Paul was in "very grave" condition after suffering blood poisoning from a urinary tract infection the previous night, but that he was "fully conscious and extraordinarily serene" and declined to be hospitalized.

By Friday night, the pope's condition had worsened further, and he was suffering from kidney failure and shortness of breath but had not lost consciousness as of 9:30 p.m., the Vatican said.

"This evening or this night, Christ opens the door to the pope," Angelo Comastri, the pope's vicar general for Vatican City, told a crowd at St. Peter's Square, where tens of thousands prayed into the chilly night. Many tearfully gazed at John Paul's third-floor window, wrapping themselves in blankets.

Over the centuries, the most traditional and telling signal that a pope has died has been the tolling of the Vatican's bells, which prompts churches across Rome to join in. Other signs include the closing of the massive bronze portal beneath a portico off St. Peter's and drawn shutters in the pontiff's apartment.

The modern use of Bronze Door is spotty. In 1978, when two popes died in rapid succession, the tradition was ignored. Under normal circumstances, the Bronze Door is closed every night at around 8 p.m. and reopened in the morning.

And papal observers say it's not clear whether the shutting of the door even in daytime would precede or follow an official announcement. The door remains closed until a new pontiff is elected.

CBS News Correspondent Elizabeth Kaledin reports the pope's rapid decline is fairly common in elderly people. It's a domino effect of organ failure, which in the Pope's case started with a urinary tract infection that leads to low blood pressure, difficulty breathing and eventual heart, lung and kidney failure. It's all part of a condition called septic shock.

The good news, reports Kaledin, is that dying of septic shock is a fairly peaceful way to die.

"I've often used the word sauntering into death. Life just sort of saunters out of the body with no dramatic events,'' said Dr. Wes Ely, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, the Vatican's health minister, told Mexico's Televisa dal Vaticano that the pope "is about to die."

"I talked to the doctors and they told me there is no more hope," the Mexican cardinal told the television channel.

As word of his condition spread across the globe, special Masses celebrated the pope for transforming the Roman Catholic Church during his 26-year papacy and for his example in fearlessly confronting death.

In Wadowice, Poland, people left school and work early and headed to church to pray for their native son.

"I want him to hold on, but it is all in God's hands now," said 64-year-old Elzbieta Galuszko at the church where the pope was baptized. "We can only pray for him so he can pull through these difficult moments."

In Washington, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick said he had heard from Rome that the pope was "sinking." McCarrick said he prayed that God will "take him peacefully."

The White House said President Bush and his wife were praying for the pope and that the world's concern was "a testimony to his greatness."

By afternoon, a steady stream of pilgrims jammed the Via della Conciliazione, the main avenue leading to St. Peter's. Some carried candles, while others held rosaries. Some looked through binoculars or camera lenses at the window of John Paul's apartment.

Police put the crowd at 30,000 during a recitation of the rosary in the square Friday night, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. The two windows of John Paul's apartment lit up an otherwise darkened Apostolic Palace. Most people in the square stood still and silent after the prayers ended.

"We are near to him in prayer so that he can go to heaven, welcomed by the Lord and the other saints," said Rossella Longo, a young woman distributing rosaries to the crowd.

On Friday morning, John Paul, who declined to be hospitalized, asked aides to read him the biblical passage describing the 14 stations of the Way of the Cross, the path that Christ took to his Crucifixion and burial, Navarro-Valls told reporters. The pope followed attentively and made the sign of the cross, he said.

John Paul also asked that scripture of the so-called "Third Hour" be read to him. The passage is significant because according to tradition, Christ died at three o'clock in the afternoon.

"This is surely an image I have never seen in these 26 years," the usually unflappable Navarro-Valls said, choking up as he finished.

Cardinal Marcio Francesco Pompedda, a high-ranking Vatican administrator, visited the pope Friday morning and said he opened his eyes and smiled.

"I understood he recognized me. It was a wonderful smile — I'll remember it forever. It was a benevolent smile — a father-like smile," Pompedda told RAI television. "I also noticed that he wanted to tell me something but he could not. ... But what impressed me very much was his expression of serenity."

Hospitalized twice last month after breathing crises, and fitted with a breathing tube and a feeding tube, John Paul has become a picture of suffering. His papacy has been marked by its call to value the aged and to respect the sick, subjects the pope has turned to as he battles Parkinson's disease and crippling knee and hip ailments.

It is not clear who would be empowered to make medical decisions for an unconscious pope. The Vatican has declined to say whether John Paul has left written instructions.

John Paul's health declined sharply Thursday when he developed a high fever brought on by the infection. The pope suffered septic shock and heart problems during treatment for the infection, the Vatican said.

Septic shock involves both bacteria in the blood and a consequent over-relaxing of the blood vessels. The vessels, which are normally narrow and taut, get floppy in reaction to the bacteria and can't sustain any pressure. That loss of blood pressure is catastrophic, making the heart work hard to compensate for the collapse.

Even the fittest patients need special care and medicine to survive.

"The chances of an elderly person in this condition with septic shock surviving 24 to 48 hours are slim — about 10-20 percent, but that would be in an intensive care unit with very aggressive treatment," said Dr. Gianni Angelini, a professor of cardiac surgery at Bristol University in England.