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VATICAN CITY (CNN) -- Pope John Paul II was given the last rites of the Roman Catholic Church late Thursday night as his health deteriorated, a Vatican source has told CNN.
The sacrament does not necessarily mean that the pope is dying. Last rites -- also known as the sacrament of the sick or extreme unction -- are commonly given to people who are seriously ill as well.
The pope received the sacrament after he was shot by a would-be assassin in 1981.
The pope is suffering from a high fever caused by a urinary tract infection, the Vatican confirmed earlier Thursday -- one day after revealing he had been put on a nasal feeding tube for nutrition.
The pope is taking antibiotics, a Vatican spokesman said.
Medical sources at Gemelli hospital in Rome, where the pope has been hospitalized twice since February, told CNN that no provisions are being made for the pope to be readmitted for treatment.
The Vatican has its own medical facilities where he could be treated.
Video of the Vatican showed that the pope's apartments were darkened.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a statement released Wednesday: "To improve his calorific intake and promote an efficient recovery of his strength, nutrition via the positioning of a nasal-gastric tube has begun."
The pope underwent a tracheotomy February 24 and still has a tube inserted in his windpipe to help his breathing.
Earlier Wednesday, the pope appeared at his studio window and blessed the thousands of faithful in St. Peter's Square.
He appeared alert during the four-minute appearance, which drew cheers from the crowd gathered beneath his window.
He raised his hand in blessing and made the sign of the cross as a Vatican official read greetings and prayers.
A microphone was raised to his face as he tried to speak, but the words were not clear.
The pope has spent a total of 28 days in two stints at Gemelli hospital in the past two months.
On Monday the pope skipped the post-Easter Angelus prayer for the first time in his 26-year papacy.
The 84-year-old pope suffers from a number of chronic illnesses, including crippling hip and knee ailments, and Parkinson's disease, a progressive neurological disorder that can make breathing difficult.
Throughout his various illnesses and brushes with death, even after the assassination attempt, the pope always said his life was in God's hands.
The pope's death, whenever it comes, will leave "very large gap that's going to have to be filled," said Monsignor Kevin Irwin of Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
"His illness has given us time to prepare ourselves," he said Thursday. "On the other hand, this is going it be a very, very significant papacy to follow.
"This man made the papacy bigger than life," he said. "He is a man who has been an international traveler involved in many relations with other faiths."
The use of a feeding tube for the pope illustrates his position on treatment for the critically ill.
In 2004, he wrote that doctors have a moral duty to preserve life.
"The administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural way of preserving life ... not a medical procedure."
The Vatican has criticized a Florida judge's order to remove the feeding tube from Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman who died Thursday after nearly two weeks without food or water. (Full story)
"RickUSN: That was intelligent and useful Mudd. But it certainly is what Ive come to expect. Mindless babbling with no intent to either enlighten or inform
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