April 2, 2005 3:20 AM

Catholics Pray as Pope Slides Towards Death

By Philip Pullella and Phil Stewart

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Roman Catholics around the worldwaited and prayed
as Pope John Paul slid toward death onSaturday after a 26-year reign that
helped undermine Sovietcommunism and vigorously upheld long-standing
Vaticandoctrines.

Tens of thousands of faithful staged an emotional vigil inSt Peter's
Square deep into the night after Vatican officialssaid the 84-year-old
Pope's health was fading fast.

"Stay with us. Don't leave us," the crowds chanted, manypeople weeping
uncontrollably as they stared up at the Papalapartments, where just two
lights blazed.

But senior churchmen made clear that death was close athand and Italian
news agencies quoted medical sources as sayingthe Pope had lost
consciousness.

"This evening or tonight, Christ opens the doors to thePope," Monsignor
Angelo Comastri said in St Peter's Square ashe lead a prayer session.

"The successor of Peter, the fisherman, is dying," AmericanCardinal
Francis George said in Chicago.

In its latest bulletin on Friday evening, the Vatican saidJohn Paul's
heart and kidneys were failing, his breathing wasshallow and his blood
pressure had dropped dangerously low.

"This is a life-changing night," said 26-year old RobertoMazzi, as he
shuffled quietly into St Peter's Square. "He's theonly Pope we've ever
known and now he's dying. To be anywhereelse, in any other mood would be
wrong."

Police estimated that as many as 70,000 people were in thevast, floodlit
square as Saturday dawned, to be near the manwho enjoyed the third-longest
papacy in history and was a keyworld figure of the late 20th century.