'Make me well,' boy asks pope

2005-02-09 21:28

Rome - A child cancer patient at the hospital where Pope John Paul II is recovering from a respiratory illness enjoyed a special audience with the pontiff on Wednesday, hospital officials said.

"Make me well," the child reportedly asked the pope, who has been hospitalised since last Tuesday in a suite adjoining the paediatric cancer ward at Gemelli hospital near the Vatican.

The 84-year-old pope reportedly smiled at the young boy and told him: "You have the blessing of the pope, as do all of the other convalescing children, with hopes for a full recovery."

The encounter early on Wednesday was an impromptu affair, occasioned by a visit to the ailing pope by Archbishop Stanislao Dziwisz, the pontiff's personal secretary.

The Italian news agency ANSA reported that the child told Dziwisz that he had been knocking on the double doors to the pope's hospital suite for the past two days to no avail.

"Perhaps you'd like to say hello to the pope?" Dziwisz reportedly asked the child.

The boy assented, and Dziwisz led him to the pontiff, who was "pleasantly surprised" by the visit, according to ANSA.

- AFP