Pope Is Still Conscious -Vatican



VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope John Paul is conscious and his condition is stable, but he is still extremely ill and his blood pressure unstable, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said on Friday.





Navarro-Valls said the 84-year-old Pope was still having difficulty breathing.


"At this moment the situation is stable but significantly serious conditions remain," Navarro-Valls told reporters at a briefing.


Navarro-Valls had to choke back tears as said he had "never seen anything like this in the last 26 years" of John Paul's papacy.


On Thursday night, the Pope suffered heart failure and received the "Holy Viaticum" communion which is reserved for those near death.


Navarro-Valls said the Pope had asked to be read the "Via Crucis," or the Stations of the Cross, recalling the episodes in the last hours of Christ's life from arrest to burial. The Pope made the sign of the cross during the reading, he said.


"The Pope is lucid and extremely serene," Navarro-Valls added.