Saturday, April 2 2005 09:27 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Vatican City: Pope John Paul II lay close to death in his Vatican apartment early today (April 2, 2005), his organs failing, as tens of thousands of pilgrims packed St Peter's Square under his windows in a sombre prayer vigil.

"Christ is opening the door to the pope," Monsignor Angelo Comastri, the vicar general for the Vatican, told the crowd.

A Vatican spokesman announced that John Paul II's condition had worsened and his breathing was shallow.

As the 84-year-old pontiff lay in bed on the third floor of his Apostolic Palace, Comastri led the pilgrims late yesterday (April 1, 2005) in reciting the rosary, a prayer series that is at the core of the Roman Catholic faith.

As midnight passed and a new day began, police estimated that the numbers had swelled to up to 70,000.

Although the sky was dark and thunder rumbled, light shone around the square, beaming through the colonnades, bathing St Peter's Basilica and flickering from candles onto the faces of pilgrims.

Preparing the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics for the worst, officials said the pope was fully conscious and serenely accepting his fate.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said that the Pope's "general conditions and cardio-respiratory conditions have further worsened", with falling blood pressure and weak breathing as well as "renal insufficiency" - close to kidney failure.

Amid the fears and prayers, the Vatican had to deny a report that the Pope had died, after an Italian news agency said a brain monitor had shown no more activity.