POPE JOHN PAUL II\ FAITHFUL PAY HOMAGE TO LEADER OF THE CHURCH.(News) From: The Cincinnati Post (Cincinnati, OH) | Date: April 2, 2005 | COPYRIGHT 2005 The Cincinnati Post. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Byline: Victor L. Simpson Associated Press

VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II was near death as dawn broke today, his breathing shallow and his heart and kidneys failing, the Vatican said. Millions of faithful around the world paid homage, many weeping as they knelt with bowed heads, others carrying candles in prayer for the 84-year-old pontiff.

The pope "is on the verge of death," Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, head of the Vatican's health care office, told ...