POLAND: A Polish priest is reportedly trying to obtain a recording of the heartbeat of the late Pope John Paul to play to parishioners at Midnight Mass this Christmas.
Fr Jan Gora said he had already taken the first steps towards finding any recordings that may have been made of the pope's heartbeat before he died on April 2nd in his Vatican apartment after receiving medical treatment at Rome's Gemelli Clinic.
If he succeeds in obtaining a recording, he plans to air it during the Agnus Dei at the Christmas Midnight Mass in Lednica, southern Poland.
"For years, our hearts beat for him," Fr Gora was quoted as saying by the Glos Wielkopolski newspaper. "Now, in this symbolic way, we would be able to listen to the sound of his heart."
Nicola Cerbino, a spokesman for the Gemelli Clinic, said he was not sure the hospital possessed a recording of the heartbeat of the late pontiff, who was born Karol Wojtyla and served as Archbishop of Krakow before being called to the Vatican.
He said the decision on handing over any such recording would fall to the family of the late pope.
As Poles prepare for Christmas, thoughts are turning again to a national hero who embodied their Catholic devotion and resistance to communism. Senior clergy met in Krakow last month to start examining the case for his beatification.
His successor, Pope Benedict, has waived the five-year waiting period that follows the death of a candidate before he is considered for sainthood.
