The Vatican said the 84-year-old Pontiff's breathing became shallow and his blood pressure had dropped dangerously low. He also lost consciousness. But it denied Italian media reports that he had died.

Italian media gave contradictory reports about Pope's vital signs yesterday, first saying his heart and brain activity had stopped and then reporting this was not true.

The first reports, picked up by the state broadcaster RAI, said his electrocardiogram had gone flat. The ADN Kronos news agency said monitoring showed his brain activity had halted.

But Sky Italia television later quoted Vatican sources saying both his brain and heart were still functioning.

"We are now in a pre-death phase because the pope is on the verge of death," Vatican health minister Javier Lozano said on Televisa.

"I just spoke with the Vatican physicians and they say that now there is no going back," Lozano said.

Earlier, AFP reports: Pope hovered near death yesterday, fully conscious and serenely awaiting his fate according to officials, as thousands of pilgrims gathered in prayer and cardinals prepared Catholics around the world for his demise.

The Vatican said the pope's condition was "very serious" following a heart attack, septic shock and a urinary tract infection, and although by midday he was reported to be stable, a senior cardinal said he was "abandoned to the will of God."

As the 84-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church lay inside his apartment overlooking St Peter's Square, pilgrims congregated outside to pray through what many believe to be his final hours.

Across the world, from his native Poland to Indonesia via the Middle East, thousands of faithful also prayed for the health of a pontiff who has led the world's 1.1 billion Catholics for more than a quarter of a century.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told a news conference at noon that John Paul II had earlier seen his closest advisers in separate meetings at his bedside.

Navarro-Valls, who has been the spokesman for John Paul II since late 1984, was visibly moved when asked for his personal feelings.

"It's an image which I had never before seen in 26 years ... the pope lucid and extraordinarily serene, with the expected breathing difficulties," he said in a voice broken by emotion.

Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Vicar of Rome who is traditionally charged with breaking news of a papal death, painted a picture of a pope serenely awaiting his end.

"I found him profoundly serene and lucid," Ruini said, calling on people to "intensify their prayers" for the stricken pontiff.

"I prayed with him only for a moment which moved me profoundly. The pope is completely abandoned to the will of God."

Earlier, one of the leaders of the Polish community in Rome, Father Konrad Hejmo, told reporters the Polish-born pope was "ready" to die.

The health of the pope, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and has long been confined to a wheelchair and has respiratory and throat problems, suddenly deteriorated Thursday evening.

In a statement at 6:30 am yesterday, Navarro-Valls seemed to be preparing for the worst, acknowledging in an unusually downbeat assessment that the pope's condition was "very serious."

"Yesterday afternoon, March 31, ... following a confirmed infection of the urinary tract, septic shock set in with cardio-circulatory collapse," he said.

Navarro-Valls said that "all appropriate therapeutic and cardio-respiratory measures were activated," but it was not clear whether the pope was put on a respirator.

Giving an update six hours later, Navarro-Valls said the pontiff's blood pressure continued to be "unstable".

The pope had received the "Viaticum", Holy Communion given to those close to death, on Thursday evening, the spokesman said.