PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP PHOTO Pope John Paul II blesses the crowd fro the top of the altar as he prepare to celebrate a mass in Krakow's Blonie ground 18 August 2002. The pope, who will visit his parent's graves later on Sunday, looked somewhat tired during the mass but completed the three-hour service.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP PHOTO Pope John Paul II blesses the crowd from the top of the altar as he prepare to celebrate a mass in Krakow's Blonie ground 18 August 2002. The pope, who will visit his parent's graves later on Sunday, looked somewhat tired during the mass but completed the three-hour service.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP PHOTO Pope John Paul II arrives in his popemobile to celebrate the open-air mass attended by more than two million people at Krakow's Blonia park 18 August 2002. The Pope is in Poland, his homeland on the third day of his four-days visit, the ninth during his pontificate

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP PHOTO Pope John Paul II gestures during the open-air mass attended by more than two million people at Krakow's Blonia park 18 August 2002. The Pope is in Poland, his homeland on the third day of his four-days visit, the ninth during his pontificate.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP PHOTO A tired looking pope John Paul II arrives on the altar to celebrate a mass in Krakow's Blonie ground 18 August 2002. The pope, who will visit his parent's graves later on Sunday, looked somewhat tired during the mass but completed the three-hour service.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP PHOTO An undated and unlocated portrait of Jean Paul II.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Pope John Paul II prays during a holy mass attended by thousands of faithful gathered at the hippodrome of Gdansk 05 June 1999. The Holy Father is on a 13-day visit back to his native land, the seventh altogether to Poland. (ELECTRONIC IMAGE)

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Pope John Paul II blesses the pilgrims during the Jubilee of the world of agriculture and rural life, in Saint Peter's Square in Vatican, 12 November 2000. AFP PHOTO GABRIEL BOUYS

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Pope John Paul II celebrates an open-air mass 12 September 2003 in front of tens of thousands of people gathered in the central square of Banska Bystrica, 230 kilometres northeast of the Slovakian capital Bratislava during his four days visit in Slovakia.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Pope John Paul II celebrates an open-air mass 12 September 2003 in front of tens of thousands of people gathered in the central square of Banska Bystrica, 230 kilometres northeast of the Slovakian capital Bratislava during his four days visit in Slovakia.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Pope John Paul II celebrates the Holy mass for the athletes' Jubilee, 29 October 2000 at Rome's Olympic Stadium before attending at a football game between Italy against a selection of the world's best player. AFP PHOTO GABRIEL BOUYS

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Pope John Paul II celebrates a Divine Liturgy with beatifications in Lviv, 27 June 2001, on the last day of his five-day visit in Ukraine. One million Catholics gathered at the racecourse here as Pope John Paul II beatified 28 martyrs during the final mass of his controversial visit to the former Soviet Republic. AFP PHOTO POOL GABRIEL BOUYS

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP PHOTO Pope John Paul II weaves after a Holly Mass in the outskirts of Kiev, 24 June 2001. Pope John Paul II, who arrived in Ukraine on a five-day visit 23 June, is expected in Kiev and Lviv during this period.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP PHOTO An official introduces representatives of religions to Pope John Paul II during his meeting with the Panukrainian Council of Religions in Kiev, 24 June 2001, on the second day of his five-day visit in Ukraine. On the left with a white barb is the Orthodox Patriarch of Ukraine Filarete.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Pope John Paul II blesses the pilgrims during his traditional Christmas Day "Urbi and Orbi" blessing, 25 December 2000, on Saint Peter's Square in Vatican. Pope John Paul II denounced the violence in the Middle East and the "culture of death" threatening the future of the world. AFP PHOTO GABRIEL BOUYS

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Picture dated 7 October 1995 of Pope Jean Paul II leaning on the cross during a mass in Central Park in New York.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP PHOTO Colorado: Pope John Paul II looks out at the estimated crowd of 200,000 people attending a 14 Aug prayer vigil for World Youth Day. The crowd gathered at Cherry Creek State Park heard the pope lash out at abortion, calling it "the slaughter of innocent human beings.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Pope John Paul II waves the faithful in Vercelli, 23 May, during beatification ceremonies for Italian army chaplain Secondo Pollo, who died in 1941

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Pope John Paul II prays during the Holy mass for the All Saints ceremony, 01 November 2000, on Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican. AFP PHOTO GABRIEL BOUYS

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Pope John Paul II prays during the Holy mass for the All Saints ceremony 01 November 2000 on Saint Peter's Square iat the Vatican. AFP PHOTO GABRIEL BOUYS