FARGO - North Dakotans joined in special prayers for Pope John Paul II as he clung to life in Vatican City, and praised the 84-year-old pontiff as a moral leader and a friend.

"The people of the church, and myself included, are filled with sadness," Bishop Samuel Aquila, who heads the Fargo Roman Catholic Diocese, said on the steps of St. Mary's Cathedral before noon Mass began Friday.

In southwestern North Dakota, the Rev. Thomas Wordekemper said the mood at the Assumption Abbey was somber, but not sad.

"We have prayed for a happy, painless death and an end to the suffering," Wordekemper said.

The Roman Catholic monastery has about 30 monks, and its St. Mary's Parish serves about 400 people in southwestern North Dakota.

At least one of the monks was watching television to monitor the condition of the pope, Wordekemper said.

"He has been a voice that has spoken out tremendously and forcefully, giving values to a world that is really struggling at this point in time between a very deep cultural war of death and life," Aquila said.

The Fargo bishop said he last saw John Paul in December, when a delegation of area bishops went to the Vatican.

A spokesman for the Roman Catholic diocese of Bismarck, Joel Melarvie, said Bishop Paul Zipfel held a special Mass for priests and staff members of the diocese and dedicated the service to the pope. Melarvie said diocese officials were planning a novena, a nine-day prayer session, throughout the diocese, beginning and ending in Bismarck.