A woman lights a candle as people pray in a church in Wadowice, southern Poland, the Pope's native town, on Friday April 1, 2005.Pope John Paul II suffered heart failure during treatment for a urinary tract infection and was in 'very serious' condition on Friday, the Vatican said. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

A Vatican official dismissed as "rubbish" Italian media reports that Pope John Paul had fallen into a coma.

On Friday morning, the Vatican described the Pope's health as "very grave" after the 84-year-old suffered heart failure.

Later, two Italian news agencies and the teletext service of Italian state broadcaster RAI reported the Pope had fallen into a coma. But the Vatican official knocked the reports down.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls was due to brief reporters on the Pope's health at 5:30-6:00 a.m. EST.

Earlier, Navarro-Valls said the Pope had received the "Holy Viaticum" communion which is reserved for those near death, and had told his aides he did not want to return to hospital for treatment.

The Vatican statement said the Pope was still "conscious, lucid and tranquil" and had celebrated Mass as dawn broke, but senior clergy indicated that his life was ebbing away.

(Agencies)

Vatican: 梵蒂岡，羅馬教廷

Holy Viaticum: the Eucharist given to a dying person or one in danger of death.
（臨終圣餐，給臨終或面臨死亡危險的人的圣餐）