Pope's doctor staying mum

2005-02-03 17:37

Vatican City - Amid all the speculation, one man knows more about Pope John Paul II's health than anyone else, his long-time personal physician Renato Buzzonetti, but he's not telling.

White-haired Buzzonetti, who at 81 is almost as old as the pope himself, has been a discreet presence at John Paul II's side since the early days of his pontificate.

It was Buzzonetti who persuaded the pope to move to Rome's Polyclinic Gemelli when he began having acute difficulty breathing on Tuesday night, according to Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state.

According to Italian media reports the pope only reluctantly heeded his doctor's advice, but then John Paul II has long been seen as a stubborn patient.

A native of Rome, one of Buzzonetti's sons followed his father into the medical profession and ironically, is now an opthamologist at the Gemelli.

Discretion incarnate

Buzzonetti himself has long been seen as medical discretion incarnate, even if he has a passion for photography which proved to be the downfall of one of his predecessors at the Vatican.

He has never given an interview, because as far as he's concerned, there would be nothing to say.

"The pope is a patient. I never talk about the health of my patients," he said.

The position of Vatican "Archiatre" or senior physician was officially abandoned after the incumbent, Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi, was sacked in disgrace after the death of Pope Pius XII.

Galeazzi-Lisi had taken a series of photographs of the pope in his death-throes at Castelgandolfo in October 1958, and sold them to the press.

'Voyage of suffering'

Buzzonetti came to prominence during the early days of what the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano has called "the long voyage of suffering" of the pope, which began when he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by Turkish fanatic Mehmet Ali Agca in May 1981.

Since then, the doctor and his thick spectacles have become a constant at the Vatican and on most of the pontiff's 104 foreign trips. Those foreign trips have allowed him to cultivate his own passion for photography.

Buzzonetti is recognized as part of the Vatican household, but chooses not to live within its walls.

In his brief absences, he depends on the assistance of Sister Tobiana, a Polish nun who holds a degree in medicine, but has never practiced.

Sister Tobiana is now part of the papal household which has moved to the 10th floor of the Gemelli to help the pope.

Chosing surgeons

One of Buzzonetti's most delicate tasks has been to choose the various surgeons who have operated on the pope, who apart from surgery to remove his would-be assassin's bullets, has also

faced surgery for an intestinal tumour in 1992

for an appendectomy in 1996

a fractured shoulder in 1994, and

again in 1994, a broken femur.

He also consults regularly with colleagues around the world on new methods of treating the pope's Parkinson's disease, which has affected the pontiff since 1966.

- AFP