VATICAN CITY, April 2: Following is a chronology of the past hours since it emerged that Pope John Paul is sliding towards death: Thursday: The pope will not be hospitalized for the time being, the head doctor at Rome’s Gemelli hospital says. The pope is “sick, very sick,” doctors tell ANSA news agency.

Friday: Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls announces the pope has suffered an infection followed by heart failure and his condition is “very serious”. The pope received the last rites at 1717 GMT on Thursday evening after his heart failure. The pope is “ready” to die, one of the leaders of the Polish community in Rome, Father Konrad Hejmo, tells reporters. - The pope is “fully conscious,” lucid and “extremely - serene,” Navarro-Valls announces, adding that his - condition remains “serious” but “stable”.

—Up to 10,000 people gather in silence in St Peter’s Square, - gazing up at the pope’s closed windows in the Vatican.

—The Vatican provides a fresh update on the pope’s precarious condition, saying he remains conscious, celebrated Mass and asked for the 14 stations of the Cross be read to him. He also receives several of his top collaborators.

—The pope’s health has further worsened, Navarro-Valls tells reporters around 1700 GMT. He was experiencing a “gradual worsening” of his blood pressure “and his breathing had become shallow.

—A gravely ill Pope John Paul II was already “seeing and touching the Lord,” Cardinal Camillo Ruini says at a special mass in a Rome cathedral.

—Vatican health minister and Mexican Cardinal Javier Lozano says the pope is now “in a pre-death phase because the pope is on the verge of death”.

—The Vatican denies media reports that the Pope John Paul II has already died.

—Up to 70,000 pilgrims hold an all-night vigil in St. Peter’s Square under the apartment of the pope.

—Archbishop Angelo Comastri tells the pilgrims that “this evening, or tonight, Christ is opening the door to the pope.”

Saturday: Top Vatican Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger says, after visiting the pope Saturday morning, that the pontiff “knows he is dying” and has said his “last goodbye.”

—China, which bars its Catholics from recognising the Vatican’s authority, express concerns for the pope’s condition and says it hopes his health can be restored.

—Vatican spokesman said the pope is drifting in and out of consciousness, but is not in a coma.

—Navarro-Valls says overall heart and breathing conditions of pope are “very serious.” A new bulletin is announced for around 1600 GMT.

—Italian Cardinal Achille Silvestrini says pope “gave signs of recognizing people” after seeing the pontiff in the morning.

The Vatican announces Pope Paul has died at 1937GMT.

—AFP