Pope John Paul II, Roman Catholic Leader for 27 Years, Dies
April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Pope John Paul II, leader of the world's Roman Catholics for more than a quarter-century, died tonight, the Vatican said. He was 84.
The pope, the first selected from outside Italy in more than 450 years, served almost 26 1/2 years as the spiritual successor to Saint Peter in Rome. He died at 9:37 p.m. Rome time.
Thousands of people gathered at the Vatican in a vigil of prayer as they awaited news of John Paul's condition. The church's cardinals have been summoned to Rome for the secretive procedure to choose his successor, which must begin within three weeks of the pope's death.
John Paul II remained in his apartment overlooking Saint Peter's Square this week and didn't return to the Gemelli hospital in Rome, where last month he underwent a tracheotomy to relieve breathing problems. The Vatican said yesterday that the pope's heart and kidneys were failing as he suffered from septic shock.