The Vatican on Sept. 17 released a detailed account of the final hours of Pope John Paul II, clarifying what his last words were. It also details his medical condition.

It's the first official narrative of a pope's death.

According to the Vatican, the 84 year old's last words, mumbled weakly in Polish, was: “Let me go to the house of the Father.” He then lapsed into a coma and died later.

The account fits with previous reports that he had said that he wanted to “go to the house of the Lord.”

It also dovetails with reports that his final words were part of a prayer to the Holy Spirit that he learned from his own father. Pope John Paul II was often seen praying with a Polish prayer book he had owned since childhood.

Since he had stipulated that he not be taken to the hospital, he remained in bed in his apartment and on April 2 at 3:30 p.m. he whispered his final words to a nun who was looking after him.

The Pope's secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, has reportedly said that the last words he personally heard from the Pope earlier were directed to Mary: “Totus Tuus.”

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's homily at the Pope's funeral, consciously or not, echoed John Paul's last words.

“None of us can ever forget how in that last Easter Sunday of his life, the Holy Father, marked by suffering, came once more to the window of the Apostolic Palace and one last time gave his blessing urbi et orbi,” said the man who would soon become Pope Benedict XVI. “We can be sure that our beloved Pope is standing today at the window of the Father's house, that he sees us and blesses us.”

The Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the Vatican's official journal, published the report which is a chronological account starting on Jan. 21 when it was announced that his audiences were being suspended because he had flu.

The report covers two stays in the hospital, including one where he had surgery to insert a tube into his throat to allow him to breathe.

His decline was marked by “very difficult swallowing, laborious attempts to speak, nutritional deficit and marked weakness.”

His last public appearance took place on March 30 at the window of his Vatican apartment. He tried to say a few words to the crowds outside, but grimaced in pain and was unable to speak.

The next day his health became markedly worse during Mass in his private chapel.

Following a Polish tradition, a small candle was burning in his room and visitors prayed as the Pope lay dying.

The Pope died at 9:37 p.m.