A SECOND prominent Catholic clergyman quit his post yesterday amid allegations he collaborated with Poland’s Communist-era secret police, a day after Warsaw’s new archbishop resigned after admitting he had cooperated with the despised agency.

THE Turk who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981 will be released from prison on Thursday, but he then may be tried in a military court for allegedly dodging the draft and escaping military custody, an official said yesterday.

EVERY Wednesday I look forward to reading Rónán Mullen’s latest attempt at justifying the Catholic Church. I often wonder if he is capable of criticising his Church, or does his faith blind him to reality.

Pat Brosnan

The Pope was clinging to life in grave condition today after suffering heart failure, but he was still lucid, fully conscious and ”extraordinarily serene,” the Vatican said.

Pope John Paul was in a “very grave” condition today and appeared close to death after suffering heart failure, the Vatican said.

A Polish priest from John Paul II’s birthplace said today he had been told by The Pope’s closest aide that the pontiff might leave hospital on Monday or Tuesday.

THE Vatican pronounced what it hoped was the last word yesterday on whether the Pope ever offered an endorsement of Mel Gibson’s controversial biblical epic The Passion of the Christ.

THE Vatican pronounced what it hoped was the last word yesterday on whether the Pope ever offered an endorsement of Mel Gibson’s controversial biblical epic The Passion of the Christ.

The Pope has not endorsed Mel Gibson’s controversial Biblical epic The Passion of the Christ, the pontiff’s secretary said.

A leading European cardinal said today that Pope John Paul was nearing “the last days and months of his life,” the latest prelate to express alarm over the 83-year-old pontiff’s health.