Era of 'video-pope' approaches
2005-03-14 14:07
Vatican City - An enfeebled Pope John Paul II may be back at the Vatican, but his future public appearances may largely be limited to video-links, and doctors predict the days of thousands of pilgrims being able to see the pope in person may be coming to an end.
The 84-year-old pope, who left Rome's Gemelli hospital on Sunday 18 days after undergoing throat surgery, must now do and speak as little as possible to prevent another relapse, doctors said.
Some said the pontiff should even have stayed in hospital.
Vatican spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls said on Sunday that although the pope was not cured, he was returning to the Vatican to "continue his convalescence".
"I advise him to rest and speak as little as possible. Enough thinking about audiences," was the blunt assessment of Corrado Manni, an anaesthetist and veteran of several of John Paul II's seven surgical operations.
"Personally, I would have preferred had he stayed in hospital a week or two more," said Giancarlo Cianfrone, a doctor specialising in speech problems at Rome's La Sapienza university.
To avoid the risk of infection or a new bout of flu, the pope is understood to have been advised by doctors reluctant to let him leave the Gemelli to minimise his contact with the outside world, and if possible, reduce his audiences to a minimum.
As sick as the pope
"When someone as sick as the pope leaves hospital, we normally tell relatives not to expose the patient to possible infections. We have to avoid sick people getting close to anyone or anything which could carry a virus or bacteria," said Iro Iori, president of the organisation Italian hospital doctors.
"He has to remain in a protected environment," Iori told Rome daily Il Messaggero.
That has raised the spectre of the pope being forced to rely on video-link to be seen by his flock of one billion Roman Catholics around the world.
Already mindful of this before the pope's readmission to the Gemelli on February 24 with a relapse of the flu and attendant breathing difficulties, the Vatican has already experimented with a video-link.
Pilgrims had a taste of things to come on February 23, the day before the pope returned to hospital, when the already apparent risk of a relapse caused them to restrict the pope's weekly general audience to a video-link.
John Paul II addressed pilgrims from inside his private library, where he was shown seated in a wheelchair beneath a resurrection scene by early Renaissance painter Pietro Perugino.
The immediate public test for the pope's new regimen will be Easter Holy Week. Traditionally the most demanding week of ceremonies in the Church calendar, it begins on Palm Sunday, just a week away.
However, his participation at the demanding week of ceremonies is likely to be limited, though he is expected to deliver his Urbi et Orbi (to Rome and the World) blessing in person on Easter Sunday.