Hope for pope's recovery
2005-02-03 11:05
Rome - Pope John Paul II spent a second night under intense medical surveillance on Thursday, but an "authoritative" Vatican source quoted by the ANSA news agency said the acute phase of his respiratory illness was over and he could be out of hospital in a matter of days.
Italy's media balanced their coverage between hope and apprehension over the condition of the pope in the absence of hard information.
All information about the pope's condition is being chanelled through the official Vatican spokesperson, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, himself a medical doctor, who issued a number of statements on Wednesday emphasising there was "no reason for alarm".
Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Angelo Sodano told Italy's TG5 television news that the pope was "recovering well" as a result of treatment to ease his breathing.
Sodano is running the Vatican
Sodano, the Vatican's most senior official, is now effectively running the Roman Catholic Church during the pope's incapacity, along with another key figure, the pope's private secretary and fellow Pole, Monsignor Stanislaw Dziwisz.
Dziwisz is reported to be installed in a room next to the pope's on the 10th floor of the Gemelli hospital in Rome, to where the pope was rushed on Tuesday night with what the Vatican said were "acute" breathing difficulties.
The medical bulletin issued through Navarro-Valls early on Wednesday has been the only medical information released since the pope's hospitalisation. What has emerged since, including upbeat comments from Sodano and Health Minister Girolamo Sirchia, appears to be purely anecdotal.
Cardinal James Stafford, the most senior American cardinal in the Holy See, gave the impression of "business as usual" at the Vatican during the pope's illness.
"As soon as we knew he was sick, we gathered in prayer. We prayed a lot and then everyone continued the work they were doing," he was quoted as saying in an interview in the daily La Repubblica.
"We are working with concern but in a spirit of prayer. We don't know how things are going to turn out - the Holy Father is 84 - we don't know what challenges God has prepared for him. We are conscious of being immersed in an atmosphere of anxiety and pain, but also of hope."
That optimism was echoed by other officials, including Italian Health Minister Girolamo Sirchia, who said after visiting the hospital that the pontiff's condition was "improving."
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on the basis of Sirchia's visit that he was convinced that the pope could be released in "two or three days".
Sodano said it would have been possible to have treated the pope at the Vatican, but the pontiff has decided to heed the advice of his long-time physician, Renato Buzzonetti, and move to the Gemelli Catholic teaching hospital near the Vatican, where a special suite was already prepared for him. - AFP
- SAPA