Poland keeps vigil of hope

‘‘He is our great pride. He is our great hope, and he is our great love,’’ said Jozefa Czeslaw, 48, who came to pray for John Paul and afterward recalled the many occasions during her life that she met him face-to-face. The most memorable, Czeslaw said, came during a visit to the Vatican in 1998, when she, her husband and a group of other pilgrims from Wadowice were granted a personal audience with the pope. She kissed his ring, touched his hands and received his blessing. Later, she became pregnant — at age 44 — with her sixth child, a minor miracle she attributes directly to the visit.

Throughout the day and late into the night, people packed St Mary’s church as priests led prayers and held a succession of services. As in many cities across Poland, an all-night vigil was planned, as many worshippers dismissed or shunted aside reports of the pope’s imminent demise. ‘‘He is very strong,’’ said Helena Smolik, 72, a member of the church choir, who held out hope that John Paul might recover and even return to Wadowice for a visit this year. ‘‘The people of Wadowice love him and adore him, and he knows this.’’

One block from the church, the home where the Pope was born still stands; it has been converted into a museum in his honour. Along the main road leading into the town of 20,000, visitors are greeted by a triple-billboard-sized sign that proclaims Wadowice’s pride for its most famous citizen. John Paul last returned to his home town in 2002.

Born Karol Josef Wojtyla on May 18, 1920, John Paul grew up in Wadowice in a childhood marked by grief. It included the death of his mother when he was eighth, followed by the death of an older brother four years later. Still, he made an early mark in his home town by graduating class valedictorian, which propelled him to an academic and seminary career in nearby Krakow, where he was ordained in 1946. Even after moving to Krakow, John Paul kept up his contacts in Wadowice and made frequent visits as the bishop, archbishop and later cardinal for the region. — LAT-WP

Pope serious, not entirely conscious

VATICAN CITY: Pope John Paul is slipping in and out of consciousness, the Vatican said on Saturday as Roman Catholics across the world prepared for the death of the Pontiff who fought communism and defended church doctrine. The Vatican said the Pope, whose long declining health took an abrupt turn for the worse on Thursday, remained in very serious condition and was intermittently losing consciousness. ‘‘As of this morning at dawn, we are noticing that his state of consciousness is compromised,’’ spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.

‘‘This absolutely does not mean he is in a coma. When he speaks, his eyes are open and he remains conscious, but at times he seems to be sleeping,’’ he said. —Reuters