Last 20 years JP2

The white curtain opens, the man in white advances on his wheelchair, raises his right arm and makes the sign of the cross to give the blessing. 20 years ago today, Wednesday, March 30, 2005, Pope John Paul II appeared for the last time in public, from the window of his private apartments from the Apostolic Palace to the Vatican.

Decreased since the attack on which he had rescued in 1981, visibly ill for several years, the Polish pope saw his condition worsening at the beginning of 2005. He indeed contracts a flu on January 31, which forced him to be hospitalized three days later. It is the beginning of his round trips between the Vatican and the Gemelli polyclinic-which he renamed not without humor “Vatican III” because of his many hospitalizations in the medical establishment.

While the world includes the gravity of the state of health of the sovereign pontiff, Romans and pilgrims passing through the eternal city spontaneously meet on Saint-Pierre square, under the windows of the apostolic palace. In the evening, the light behind the windows maintains an intimate link between the faithful and the dying pope.

On February 23, John Paul II had to undergo a tracheotomy. If the operation is a success, it seriously reaches its ability to speak. He then trained to pronounce the blessing Urbi and Orbi (“to the city and to the world”) which he must give on Easter day, Sunday March 27, 2005. Between the two dates, the general hearings on Wednesdays are suspended, while the Sunday allowances during the prayer of the angelus are read by Mgr Leonardo Sandri, then substitute for the Secretary of State. On Sunday March 13, from his window of the Gemelli hospital, he salutes the faithful present of a few words. These will be his latest intelligible public words.

Holy week and blessings

Unable to conduct the celebrations of Holy Week himself, John Paul II delegates to cardinals of the Roman Curia. At the end of the branch mass, he appeared at his window of the apostolic palace and can give the blessing, a bit of olive tree in hand. Seven days later, the crowd presents Place Saint-Pierre for Easter mass-celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, then Secretary of State-can see Jean-Paul II at length at his open window, despite the strong wind. A microphone is approached, but no sound comes out of the mouth of the Polish pope who is content to give his apostolic blessing by drawing the sign of the cross with the hand.

The scene therefore reproduced identically on Wednesday, March 30, the last time when the world will see John Paul II living. The Vatican wants to be reassuring. In a press release-the first since March 13-its spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls assures that “the Holy Father continues its slow and progressive convalescence”, and that it “spends many hours of the day in an armchair, celebrates the Holy Mass in its private chapel and is in contact with work with its collaborators, directly following the activities of the Holy See and the life of the Church”. He specifies that a gastric probe was laid, in order to feed John Paul II.

Three days later, Saturday April 2, the situation is getting worse. Joaquin Navarro-Valls multiplies worrying statements throughout the day. In the evening, in front of the crowd gathered at Place Saint-Pierre to pray, Mgr Sandri advances in front of the microphone: “Dear brothers and sisters, at 9:37 pm, our beloved Saint-Père Jean-Paul II returned to the father’s house, pray for him.”