Wadowice, Poland April. (AP): Poles left schools and workplaces on Friday to pray in church for the recovery of Pope John Paul II after the health of the nation's most famous son took a dramatic turn for the worse.
The Vatican said the 84-year-old Pontiff suffered heart failure during treatment for a urinary tract infection and was in ``very serious'' condition.
"I wish him to keep up, but it is all in God's hands now," said Elzbieta Galuszko, 64, in John Paul's hometown of Wadowice in southern Poland. "We can only pray for him so he can pull through these difficult moments _ all the rest is in the hands of God."
A tearful Krystian Zajac, 47, a plumbing company employee, came to the town's church of St. Mary, where the Pope was baptized.
"This situation is so difficult. I took time off from work to come and pray," he said. "This is the will of God, we just have to pray, everything is in the hands of God."
"The only way we can help him is by prayer," said 17-year-old Danuta Chowaniec. "In spite of these alarming statements from the Vatican, that he is really worse, I still hope he improves."
After news spread of the Pontiff's worsening condition late Thursday, people in the Pope's beloved Tatra Mountains held prayers for him in a sanctuary devoted to the Virgin Mary of Fatima _ built to thank the Virgin Mary for saving the Pope's life following a 1981 assassination attempt.
In Krakow, a longtime friend of the Pope, Jozefa Hennelowa, 80, spoke of her anxiety at the Pope's latest crisis.
"I really think this is a farewell," said Hennelowa, a columnist for Tygodnik Powszechny, the liberal Catholic weekly the Pontiff once wrote for. "I feel as though someone very close was leaving us, someone from our family. He is suffering so much."
The faithful in Krakow heeded a call from Cardinal Franciszek Macharski to gather beneath the so-called "papal window" in the Krakow Curia, where the Pope lived as Bishop and Cardinal of Krakow and where, as Pope, he would appear to speak with young people during his visits to Poland.
"We want to be with him and with ourselves, exactly like the time when the window was full of his presence," Macharski said on TVN24 television.
Poland's Episcopate issued a statement encouraging believers to pray for the Pontiff, and worshippers in Warsaw streamed in and out of churches.
"I never cried before. I don't go to church, I don't believe in priests or in God in the way he is presented," said Wojtek Wisniewski, a 40-year-old unemployed man who had tears in his eyes as he left Warsaw's All Saint's Church.
"But I believe in the Pope. I love him. He is a saint. He understands people like me and speaks to us. There will never be another person like him."
Outside the church, red and yellow carnations had been placed at the foot of a statue of the Pope, while an elderly woman could be seen sobbing and gently touching the statue.
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The Holy Father made his last visit to Poland in August, 2002. The 82 year-old was frail then, visiting the graves of his parents and other sites precious to him, presumably for the last time.
On August 17, 2002, at the dedication of the Shrine of Divine Mercy, Krakow, Pope John Paul II made these comments:
"At the end of this solemn liturgy, I desire to say that many of my personal memories are tied to this place. During the Nazi occupation, when I was working in the Solvay factory near here, I used to come here. Even now I recall the street that goes from Borek Falecki to Debniki that I took every day going to work on the different turns with the wooden shoes on my feet. They're the shoes that we used to wear then. How was it possible to imagine that one day the man with the wooden shoes would consecrate the Basilica of the Divine Mercy at Lagiewniki of Kraków.
I rejoice for the construction of this beautiful shrine dedicated to the Divine Mercy. I entrust to the care of Cardinal Macharski and to the whole Archdiocese of Kraków and to the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy the material, and especially, the spiritual upkeep of the shrine. May this collaboration in the work of spreading the devotion of the Merciful Jesus give blessed fruit in the hearts of the faithful in Poland and in the whole world."
On August 19, 2002, John Paul II celebrated Mass for the 400th anniversary of the Dedication of the Shrine of Kalwaria Zebryzdowska.
He gave the people of his homeland this message:
"So now my pilgrimage to Poland, to Kraków is drawing to a close. I am happy that the crowning of this visit should take place here in Kalwaria, at the feet of Our Lady. Once again I want to entrust to her protection all of you gathered here, the Church in Poland and all my fellow countrymen. May her love be the source of abundant grace for our country and for its citizens.
When I first visited this shrine in 1979, I asked you to pray for me, while I am alive and after my death. Today I thank you and all the pilgrims of Kalwaria for these prayers, for the spiritual support I continually receive. I continue to ask you: do not stop praying - once again I repeat it - as long as I am alive and after my death. As always, I will repay your kindness by recommending all of you to the merciful Christ and to his Mother."
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Truly, this humble man has guided the Catholic Church and the world with dignity and love.
42So Jesus called them and said to them, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." (Mark 10:42-45)
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