More from from Rome and beyond

• VATICAN TO ISSUE BRIEFING SOON | 3:20 a.m. ET

The Vatican announces it will issue a new briefing at 4:30 a.m. ET.

• POPE CONSCIOUS, SOURCES SAY | 3:08 a.m. ET

A Polish priest, citing Vatican sources, says the pope is in stable condition and has not lost consciousness.

"I have information from the Vatican from a half an hour ago. The Pope is in serious, but stable condition. The Pope has not lost consciousness," Father Konrad Hejmo, a close friend of the Pope's, tells Reuters.

• RUMORS OF VATICAN STATEMENT | 2:42 a.m. ET

Word of a possible statement from the Vatican at 3 a.m. ET is coming from a Romania-based TV station. NBC News has been unable to confirm the report. The press office reopened at 2 a.m. ET.

• WELL-WISHES FROM CHINA | 1:01 a.m. ET

China, which does not allow its Catholics to recognize the Vatican's authority, expressed concern for Pope John Paul II after a small group of local religious leaders and worshippers prayed for the pontiff.

"China expresses its concern and hopes the Pope can get meticulous medical treatment, recover and restore his health," a Foreign Ministry spokesman told Reuters by telephone.

• VATICAN PRESS OFFICE CLOSES | 12:14 a.m. ET

The Vatican press office, which stayed open throughout the night as several hundred people remained in St. Peter's Square to pray for the ailing pope, closed around 10 p.m. ET. The office was to open again at 3 a.m. ET.

• 'SERENELY CARRYING THE CROSS' | 10:51 p.m. ET

The pope's decision to remain at the Vatican rather than return to the hospital has become a source of reflection for many of those following the pontiff's medical struggle.

“The fact that he has not gone back to hospital (means) that he is serenely carrying the cross and ready to give up and to say, ‘It is finished,’” said Irish Bishop John Magi, who served as the pope's private secretary from 1978 to 1982.

“The pope has decided to die at home ... not fitted with tubes (but) facing death in front of the tomb of St. Peter,” said a front-page commentary Saturday in the newspaper La Repubblica.

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