(2 Apr 2005)
1. Wide shot of St Peter's Square
2. Interior shot of people praying during mass
3. Mid shot of woman praying
4. Side shot of another woman praying
5. Various of people praying
6. Set-up shot of Cardinal Edmund Szoka, the governor of Vatican City and former archbishop of Detroit, who visited the pope on Friday morning
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Cardinal Edmund Szoka, Governor of Vatican City:
"Yes. I received a call at about 9.20 or so in the morning from Archbishop Dziwisz the pope's personal secretary - he has been his secretary for 38 years, long before he became pope. He called me and said 'can you come over' and I said 'i'll come right over' so I went right over and he took me into the pope's bedroom where he was in bed, he was propped up. There were three doctors alongside of him giving him help with breathing and so on - but the pope was completely conscious and alert. He couldn't speak but when he saw me with his eyes and bowing his head, I knew he immediately recognised me and was trying to greet me. So I knelt down alongside of him and I kissed his hand, and held his hand, and so i told him in Polish that I had offered mass for him and that I was praying for him. In the meantime these other three doctors on the other side of the bed so I wasn't there too long and then Archbishop Dziwisz spoke to me and said 'maybe it's better to go now.' So when I left, you know I'm a priest so I just automatically gave him a blessing and when I did he blessed himself. It was a very moving moment. He was perfectly conscious and perfectly alert. I have no doubt about that. But he was having extreme difficulty breathing. His breathing was very, very laboured. And it very sad for me to see him that way. It must have been terrible suffering to have to keep gasping for breath."
8. Close up of cross worn by cardinal
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Cardinal Edmund Szoka, Governor of Vatican City:
"I think that he was pleased that I came. And I didn't try to say too much because he was labouring so hard to breathe, so I just said a few things in Polish and then blessed him and then I left."
10. Wide shot of Swiss Guards outside the Bronze door
11. Closer shot of Swiss guard
12. Nun looking at Apostolic Palace, as shot from behind
STORYLINE:
As Pope John Paul II's condition remained unchanged on Saturday, pilgrims to St Peter's basilica offered prayers for the ailing pontiff.
Vatican officials on Saturday said the pope's health is still "very grave," and that he had begun showing the first signs of losing consciousness at dawn.
The 84-year-old pope's health has rapidly deteriorated, with his heart and kidneys failing after he suffered a urinary tract infection.
But John Paul is not in a coma and opens his eyes when spoken to, according to papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters on Saturday.
A Vatican official who visited the pope on Friday, has told APTN that the pope was "completely conscious and alert" on Friday - although he was couldn't speak and was having breathing problems.
Former Detroit Archbishop Edmund Szoka, and now the Governor of Vatican City, told how he visited the pope on Friday at his papal apartment in the Vatican after being invited by the pope's private secretary Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz.
Szoka said the pope was "completely conscious and alert" and although he couldn't speak, Szoka said he thought the pope recognised him.
"He couldn't speak but when he saw me with his eyes and bowing his head, I knew he immediately recognised me and was trying to greet me" the former Detroit Archbishop said.
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