The Vatican has released a detailed report of the final hours of Pope John Paul II:
"Struggling to breathe, Pope John Paul II mumbled his final words weakly in Polish: ‘Let me go to the house of the Father.’ Six hours later, the comatose pontiff died, the Vatican says.
"The account of John Paul’s final hours appears in a meticulously detailed official report on his last weeks just released by the Vatican in what might be an effort to ward off any doubts about how forthcoming it has been about his illness and April 2 death.
"There was much speculation in past decades over how some pontiffs died and what caused their end.
"John Paul I’s brief tenure of 33 days as pope in 1978 spawned conspiracy theories that he did not die naturally in his bed, as the Vatican said. Some wondered if the pope might have been killed because he had information about an Italian banking scandal in which the Holy See’s bank was later found to be involved.
"While no one has publicly suggested anything amiss about John Paul II’s final hours, the Vatican said nothing for years when it was apparent to observers that the globe-trotting, widely beloved pontiff was suffering the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
"The Vatican already revealed many of the details in the new report, but the 220-page volume provides more description of John Paul II’s decline. It went on sale at the Vatican in recent days, the Holy See’s publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, said Saturday."
The reported final words of John Paul, "Let me go to the house of the Father," certainly sheds new light on then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger’s now-famous reflection during the funeral homily of John Paul II standing at the window of the Father’s house:
"We can be sure that our beloved Pope is standing today at the window of the Father’s house, that he sees us and blesses us. Yes, bless us, Holy Father. We entrust your dear soul to the Mother of God, your Mother, who guided you each day and who will guide you now to the eternal glory of her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
Amen.