Pope John Paul II, the Polish pontiff who led the Roman Catholic Church for more than a quarter century and became history's most-traveled pope, has died at 84, the Vatican announced on Saturday.
The announcement came from papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls and was distributed to journalists via e-mail.
The pope died after suffering heart and kidney failure following two hospitalizations in as many months. Just a few hours earlier, the Vatican had said he was in "very serious" condition but responded to members of the papal household.
The whole world has been talking about the Pope’s death and his successor this week, even in the Gambling background.
An Irish bookmaker has already started taking bets on the likely successor to Pope John Paul II.
The highest bet so far has been for 1,000 euros at 5:1 on the Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi.
Punters have installed Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze as the next best bet, at 11:4.
If elected, he would become the first African pope in more than 1,500 years.
The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, has firmed in the betting to 40:1 after an Australian radio station urged punters to get behind their countryman.
