c. 2005 Religion News Service
VATICAN CITY _ Pope John Paul II is in “good” condition as he recovers from surgery on his windpipe, and has started exercises to rehabilitate his breathing and speaking, the Vatican said Monday (Feb. 28).
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, who has a medical degree, issued a brief, written bulletin on the condition of the 84-year-old Roman Catholic pontiff, who was hospitalized with severe breathing problems last Thursday (Feb. 24) for the second time this month.
“The Holy Father’s post-operative phase is taking place without complications. His general condition and biological parameters continue to be good,” the bulletin said. “The Holy Father is eating regularly, spends some hours in an armchair and has begun exercises to rehabilitate breathing and phonation.”
Navarro-Valls gave no indication of when doctors would remove the tube inserted in John Paul’s windpipe in a tracheotomy performed Thursday night to ease the breathing problems caused by the constriction of his larynx.
The breathing crisis was blamed on influenza complicated by Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative neurological condition that also has affected the pope’s vocal chords and his movements. His speech often sounds hoarse and slurred.
The next medical bulletin will be issued on Thursday (March 3), the spokesman said.
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The Vatican said Saturday that the pope, advised by his doctors not to speak for some days after the surgery, would not take part in the Angelus prayer at midday on Sunday for the first time in the more than 26 years of his pontificate.
But John Paul made a surprise appearance at noon at the window of his 10th floor hospital room. The curtains were pulled open, and the crowd outside the hospital saw the pope sitting in a wheel-chair pushed by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state.
As an aide to Sodano blessed pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the pope made the sign of the cross with his right hand and then put his hand to his throat, apparently to indicate that he could not speak.
Vatican television did not relay John Paul’s image to large television screens set up in St. Peter’s Square, apparently because the decision for him to appear was taken at the last minute.
It is a long-established tradition for the pope to lead a prayer to the Virgin Mary and deliver a brief address at noon on Sunday wherever he is. Normally he speaks from his open study window to thousands of pilgrims in the square below.
Standing at the top of the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, the Argentine-born deputy secretary of state who often reads papal texts, delivered a message from John Paul before leading the prayer and giving the pope’s blessing.
“I thank you with affection and I feel everyone spiritually near,” the pope said in the message. “The penitential climate of Lent, through which we are living, helps us better to understand the value of suffering that, in one way or another, touches all of us.”
John Paul said Jesus Christ offers a “message of comfort and hope to everyone, especially those who are passing through difficult moments, who are suffering in body or spirit.”
The message closed by repeating the words of dedication to the Virgin Mary, which the pope put on his coat of arms, “Totus Tuus (Wholly Yours),” and praying to Mary to “help us in every moment of life to carry out the will of God.”
MO/RB END RNS
