Prayers for ailing pope

2005-02-02 20:53

Vatican City - Thousands of pilgrims joined in prayers here for Pope John Paul II's speedy recovery after the 84-year-old pontiff was rushed to hospital fighting for breath, triggering concern among millions of Catholics around the world.

Early on Wednesday, small knots of silent pilgrims walked through the vast expanse of St Peter's Square, deserted in the absence of the normal weekly general audience of the pope.

Thousands of faithful from around the Christian world flock here twice every week to catch a glimpse of the spiritual leader of more than one billion Catholics during the Sunday angelus or the Wednesday general audience.

This Wednesday was eerily different, however, as the scattered pilgrims absorbed the alarming news from the nearby Gemelli hospital that the pope had been hospitalised overnight with breathing problems.

"We knew yesterday that the pope was sick and that he wouldn't be holding an audience today.

"We had to change our schedule because of that.

"We will pray for him this evening," said Nicolas, one of a group of 50 youths from Bordeaux in western France.

Nearby, television crews from around the world began setting up their equipment outside the Vatican press office on the edge of Bernini's famous colonnades.

Vatican spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls called on everyone to "be calm" as police and security guards tried to control the growing mass of journalists.

'Nearing the end'

Some of the hospital's patients, in their slippers and dressing gowns, gazed in amazement at the reporters, cameramen and photographers massed at the entrance to the hospital, where the pope has been admitted for the eighth time since the start of his papacy.

"Oh, the pope, he's such a powerful man. ... Still, I believe he's nearing the end," said Luciano, 68, who is hospitalised in the same wing as the pontiff.

Nuns sank briefly to their knees and blessed themselves as they passed in front of the window of the papal apartments from which he normally addresses pilgrims.

A Polish priest brought a bouquet of 70 red and white roses to the pope's hospital room, saying the colours were chosen to remind the pontiff of his native Poland.

"They're the colours of Poland," said Father Corrado, from the Polish community's Saint Stanislaus Church in central Rome.

Improving

By mid-afternoon, Italian health minister Girolamo Sirchia said the pontiff was "improving".

"We are optimistic and the doctors are optimistic," said Sirchia, who declined to say whether he had seen the pontiff personally.

Elsewhere, tributes were paid to the stricken pope by the head of Italy's Islamic community, Mohamed Nour Dachan.

"There are many differences between us, but at this time I feel as if a friend is ill.

Of course, I am praying for him. We are all in the hands of God," Dachan said.

- AFP