yes, the Pope is officially GonEzorZ
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DEVELOPING STORY
World mourns Pope's passing
By Denis Barnett in Vatican City
03apr05
Church bells rang out across Rome after the news
POPE John Paul II died today after a long struggle against crippling infirmity which inspired Christians the world over. His death ended a tumultuous 26-year reign that shaped world politics and plunged 1.1 billion Roman Catholics into mourning.
The 84-year-old pontiff died at 9.37pm Italian time (5.37am AEST), according to a Vatican statement, two days after suffering heart failure brought on by two months of acute breathing problems and other infections.
"The Holy Father died this evening at 9:37pm in his private apartment," said the brief statement.
"All the procedures forseen by the Apostolic Constitution 'Universi Dominici gregis' promulgated by John Paul II on 22 February 1996 have been set in motion."
Church bells rang out across Rome after the news.
News of his death touched not only Catholics from his native Poland to the Americas, from Africa to Asia, but untold numbers of other admirers of one of the most popular and recognisable popes in history.
During his pontificate - the third longest in 2000 years of Christianity - he was a master at reaching the masses through the media, displaying public relations skills unknown to his predecessors while at home at the Vatican, as well as on his visits to 129 countries.
But, after he was rushed to hospital on February 1 with breathing problems, his final illness silenced the voice which had given hope to millions living under oppression while frustrating those who rejected his deeply conservative moral views.
In one of the most poignant moments of his pontificate, he was unable to give his traditional message to worshippers in Saint Peter's Square outside the Vatican on Easter Sunday and could barely raise his hand in silent blessing.
After that, his health worsened quickly. A few days later he was given the Viaticum, popularly known as the last rites.
His health continued to deteriorate. He slipped in and out of consciousness and his heart weakened. His blood pressure fell, but Vatican officials said he remained "serene", accepting his fate.
The first non-Italian pope in four-and-a-half centuries, and the first ever from eastern Europe, Karol Wojtyla was the 263rd successor to Saint Peter as Bishop of Rome.