(API) Vatican City
Pope John Paul II issued a brief public apology today for playing an April Fool's prank in which he faked his death.
The Pope does have a number of serious ailments, but is still very much alive. Indeed, to demonstrate that rumors of his death were untrue, the frail Pope was assisted out of his bed where upon he did a little Polish folk dance. "See, no strings", the Pope said in a trembling voice, and smiling weakly.
When asked why he would pull such a stunt, the Pope replied that, "Well, I don't have much time left, and after I'm dead I won't know what the reaction of people will be to my death, so I took advantage of this being April Fool's Day and I got a look at what most people never have the opportunity to see."
With that, the Pope apologized once again and slipped back into bed, while mumbling to an aide, "I know I'm an attention whore, but boy, I really owned them big time." The Pope then quickly fell into a deep sleep.
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