More from from Rome and beyond

• A QUIET NIGHT | 9:35 p.m. ET

As the night wears on, the crowds in St. Peter's Square thin.

• CUBANS LEARN OF POPE'S CONDITION | 9:10 p.m. ET

In a rare TV appearance, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the top Roman Catholic prelate in Cuba, tells Cubans that the pope is dying. Ortega is rarely seen in the island’s media, which are run by Cuba’s nonreligious government.

• CREDIT FOR ENDING COMMUNISM | 8:35 p.m. ET

Lech Walesa, founder of the Solidarity movement that toppled communism in Poland in 1989-90, tells The Associated Press that without the pope’s leadership, “communism would have fallen, but much later and in a bloody way.”

• STANDING VIGIL | 7:40 p.m. ET

Wrapping themselves in blankets, many tearfully gaze at John Paul’s third-floor windows, where the lights remain on in the pope’s studio and his secretary’s room. The papal bedroom is not lit.

• "LONG AGONY" | 6:51 p.m. ET

The Rome newspaper La Repubblica quotes Vatican officials as saying the pope is "living a long agony" and that his strong will could draw out his death, which should not be expected "at any determined time."

• JEWISH WISHES | 6:35 p.m. ET

Rome's chief rabbi says he is praying in the piazza outside the pope's residence "as a sign of sharing in the grief of our brothers for their concerns and as a sign of warmth for this pope and for all that he has done."

• CROWD GROWS | 5:30 p.m. ET

As Friday turns into Saturday in Rome, police estimate that the gathering of worshipers in St. Peter's Square has grown past 70,000. The two windows of John Paul's apartment light up an otherwise darkened Apostolic Palace.

• PREDICTION OF DEATH | 4:45 p.m. ET

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, the Vatican's health minister, tells Mexico's Televisa dal Vaticano that the pope is "on the verge of death."

• POSSIBLE SUCCESSOR HEADS TO ROME | 3:52 p.m. ET

NBC News reports that Cardinal Francis Arinze, the Nigerian cardinal viewed as one of the leading candidates to succeed Pope John Paul II, left Newark, N.J., where he was visiting, for Rome on Thursday. 

• U.S. MASSES PLANNED | 3:50 p.m. ET

Cardinals Edward Egan of New York and Roger Mahony of Los Angeles prepare to celebrate special Masses this evening in the event of the pope's death.

• VATICAN STATEMENT PLANNED |  3:40 p.m. ET

The Vatican says it will issue a statement shortly.

• VATICAN DENIAL |  1:55 p.m. ET

The Vatican denies reports that Pope John Paul II has died.

• PRAYERS AROUND THE WORLD | 1:08 p.m. ET

Millions around the world are praying for the pope.

In Wadowice, Poland, people are leaving school and work early and heading to church to pray for their native son. "I want him to hold on, but it is all in God's hands now," Elzbieta Galuszko, 64, says at the church where the pope was baptized in Wadowice, in the south. "We can only pray for him so he can pull through these difficult moments."

In the Philippines, a crying Linda Nicol says she and her husband are asking God to grant John Paul "a longer life." Muslims in France are praying for the pontiff because he is a "man of peace," says Dalil Boubakeur, president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith.

MORE FROM POPE REMEMBERED

Pope remembered Section Front

Images: Final farewell for Pope John Paul II   Images: A historic papacy   Images: Paying respects to late pontiff   Images: Mourning Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II remembered NBC: Perhaps ‘Saint John Paul? Benedict watches movie about John Paul II Live Vote: Sainthood for John Paul? Quiz: How much do you remember? Pope remembered Section Front   Add Pope remembered headlines to your news reader: