Pope Hospitalized Again; Reportedly in Operating Room Now

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ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Pope John Paul II was taken to a hospital late Tuesday with an acute respiratory infection, hours after aides announced he was suffering from the flu, the Vatican said.

Earlier Tuesday, the Vatican said the pontiff had canceled his public and private meetings for the next few days, including his general audience on Wednesday, due to a bout with influenza.

"The pope joined the millions of Italians who have caught the flu," chief Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.

The decision to clear the pontiff's calendar came a day after the pope was forced to cancel his Monday meetings. At the time, the Vatican said John Paul had a mild fever.

Before the pope was taken to Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic, where he has been treated before, Vatican sources said there was no reason for concern.

They said the cancellations were made to give advance warning to the thousands of pilgrims who gather in St. Peter's Square each week to get a glimpse of the 84-year old pope.

The pope last appeared in public Sunday. His voice was hoarse, but he appeared to be in good spirits.

His health has been relatively steady in recent months, and he looked in better health than during the summer and fall of 2003, when trips to Croatia and Slovakia appeared to take a heavy toll on the frail pontiff.

The last time health problems forced him to cancel an event was September 2003, when he was suffering from a intestinal ailment.

The pope suffers from a number of chronic ailments, including Parkinson's disease. He has survived an assassination attempt and undergone nine operations -- including a hip replacement.

The weather in Rome has been uncharacteristically cold the past few weeks, and Italian health officials had warned of a flu outbreak.

I think there will be a new Pope this year.

Eeeh gads
Some people believe that will ensue the end of the world.
Duck.

ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Pope John Paul II's condition stabilized Wednesday morning following overnight hospital treatment for an acute respiratory infection, a papal spokesman said.

The pope -- who was rushed to Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic around 11 p.m. Tuesday -- will remain there "a few days," according to a Vatican radio report.

After sleeping several hours, the pope ate breakfast, drank coffee and celebrated Mass with his private secretary in his hospital room, spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.

"Today there is no reason to be alarmed," Navarro-Valls said.

Although the pope has "a little fever," medical tests conducted early Wednesday showed his heart and breathing were within "normal limits," he said.

A source close to the Vatican confirmed to CNN that the pope received a flu shot before the flu season began last fall.

Earlier Tuesday, the Vatican said the pontiff had canceled his public and private meetings for the next few days, including his general audience on Wednesday, due to a bout with influenza.

"The pope joined the millions of Italians who have caught the flu," Navarro-Valls said Tuesday.

The pope's Vatican doctors decided he should be taken urgently to Gemelli Polyclinic Tuesday night after his symptoms worsened, sources said.

The pope has been treated at the Gemelli hospital in the past, but it is unusual for him to be rushed to the facility late at night.

Before the pope was taken to the hospital, Vatican sources said there was no reason for concern.

The decision to clear the pontiff's calendar came a day after the pope was forced to cancel his Monday meetings. At the time, the Vatican said John Paul had a mild fever.

They said the cancellations were made to give advance warning to the thousands of pilgrims who gather in St. Peter's Square each week to get a glimpse of the pope.

The pope last appeared in public Sunday. His voice was hoarse, but he appeared to be in good spirits.

His health has been relatively steady in recent months, and he looked in better health than during the summer and fall of 2003, when trips to Croatia and Slovakia appeared to take a heavy toll on the frail pontiff.

The last time health problems forced him to cancel an event was September 2003, when he was suffering from a intestinal ailment.

The pope suffers from a number of chronic ailments, including Parkinson's disease. He has survived an assassination attempt and undergone nine operations -- including a hip replacement.

The weather in Rome has been uncharacteristically cold the past few weeks, and Italian health officials had warned of a flu outbreak.

Some people believe the Mother Theresa's face showing up in their peanut butter is a sign of the end of the world. Trouble is the signs never come with a calendar or clock, so who knows what timeframe is associated with those signs. I say stop looking for signs and just go with the flow. Why get yourself all excited only to be let down yet again?

I agree Sean...the "some people" didn't include me.

Pope is dead, ventriloquist says

Sydney - A world respected ventriloquist said yesterday that Pope John Paul II was really dead and the Vatican was using his corpse to fool millions of Roman Catholics into believing his messages.

Rex Ribald, also known as The Talking Hand, said he could tell by the mouth movements and shaking of the Pope that he was making the movements of a dummy.

"The mouth and the words don't match. And apart from that, a lot of what the Pope does is theatrical," Mr Ribald said.

Mr Ribald said he believed the Pope was in fact a corpse that was in a state of semi-mummification and someone was operating the body by placing their hands in his back.

"Plus, if you look carefully, you can see some of the strings they use for his hands. If he is not dead, he certainly should be," Mr Ribald said.

Mr Ribald said he believed the Vatican will come clean on April Fool's Day and let everyone know the messages of the Pope over the past 5 years have really been a joke.

Sydney General Hospital surgeon Dr James Gall said it was possible to "hollow out a corpse and use it as a dummy" but did not want to comment on the accusation relating to the Pope.

Mr Ribald said that the system was also used on Yasser Arafat who he said died in 1987, and had doubts pop star Michael Jackson was a real person.

- News Online

Yasssar Arafat died in 1987? The Pope's been dead for 5 years? There are too many nutcases out there.

But thank God Michael Jackson is still a real person. Well .. I guess in theory he is. He certainly doesn't look like one.

Time to yield to a successor.

Here is the total story

Pope's throat surgery successful, Vatican says
Operation will prevent pontiff from speaking for extended period

L'Osservatore Romano via AP
Pope John Paul II waves to pilgrims and the faithful from his private library on Wednesday. free video



Vatican statement
Feb. 24: NBC's Keith Miller reports on the statement by the Vatican that Pope John Paul II had successfully undergone a tracheotomy.

MSNBC


• What is a tracheotomy?
Feb. 24: NBC's Robert Bazell explains the operation performed on the Pope.

MSNBC


• Pope's impact
Feb. 24: The Pope has enormous impact on the Catholic community and probably won't resign because of his ailing health, Father Anthony Figueiredo, a former assistant to the pope, tells MSNBC-TV.


MSNBC News Services
Updated: 4:43 p.m. ET Feb. 24, 2005VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II had a breathing tube inserted in his throat Thursday in what the Vatican said was a successful tracheotomy to ease respiratory problems. The 84-year-old pontiff underwent the surgery hours after he was rushed to the hospital for the second time in a month, suffering fever and congestion.


Vatican statement said the 30-minute operation at Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic hospital, which involved cutting a small opening in the pope’s neck and inserting a breathing tube into his windpipe, “ended successfully.”

“The immediate post-operative progress is regular,” it said.

The Vatican said the pope gave his consent for the operation. He will spend the night in his hospital room, a statement added, indicating he did not need to be treated in an intensive care ward.

Pope will need to recover speaking ability
But medical experts said a tracheotomy will have serious consequences for the pope’s abilities to carry out his duties. The operation will prevent him from speaking for an extended period of time and probably require a long hospital stay.

Medical experts said a tracheotomy is a simple operation, but added that it would only be performed in a crisis.

Dr. Mark Rosen of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York agreed, telling MSNBC-TV that the procedure itself was not a cause for concern, but that the underlying condition that required the procedure could be. Others have speculated that condition could be pneumonia.

Symptoms suggest pneumonia
Aides said the pope had a fever, congestion and had suffered a recurrence of breathing problems.


Dr. Barbara Paris, chairwoman of geriatrics and vice-chairwoman of Medicine at Maimonides Medical Center in New York, said that while she hasn't seen the pope his symptoms appeared to be consistent with pneumonia.

“It appears the pope is suffering from pneumonia, likely a bacterial pneumonia, a serious problem for a man of his age with Parkinson’s,” she said.

The pope’s breathing problems can complicate the swallowing difficulties characteristic of Parkinson’s disease. The lack of coordination of the muscles involved make it easy for food or saliva to get into the lungs. That can cause pneumonia and is one of the most common causes of death among Parkinson’s patients.

Doctors sometimes bypass the throat by inserting a feeding tube directly into the stomach, both to help patients who have difficulty eating and to help prevent food going down to the lungs.

The muscle problems and the pope’s stooped posture also could make it difficult for him to head off infections by mustering a powerful enough cough to shake mucus out of the lungs.

The hospitalization came a day after the pontiff made his longest public appearance since being discharged from the clinic two weeks ago.

Respiratory crisis described as severe
Vatican officials, speaking with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said the pope was rushed to the hospital at about 11 a.m. local time, about eight hours before the operation, suffering breathing problems similar to those that sent him to Gemelli on Feb. 1. Italian news reports said the latest respiratory crisis was even more severe than the first one.

The Italian news agency ANSA reported that the pope arrived conscious and was taken inside in a stretcher. It quoted people who saw him enter the hospital as saying his face looked “quite relaxed.”


• Biographer's perspective
Feb. 24: Papal biographer Michael Walsh talks with "Today" anchor Katie Couric about John Paul's health, his inner circle and his new book.
Today show


The hospitalization came after pope failed to show up Thursday morning for a scheduled meeting on new candidates for sainthood. No explanation was given for his absence and the ceremony went ahead, presided over by the Vatican’s No. 2 official, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

The pope had been convalescing after his hospitalization but had seemed to be making a strong rebound, appearing twice at the window of his studio at the Vatican to greet pilgrims.

On Wednesday, the pope wheezed and looked gaunt but managed to make his longest public appearance since leaving the hospital. The Vatican originally had planned for the frail pontiff to address pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square from his apartment window, but decided instead on a video hookup because of the rain and winds.

Spoke to pilgrims Wednesday
The change was in line with the caution the Vatican has been showing since John Paul was rushed to the hospital Feb. 1 with breathing difficulties following a bout with the flu.

The Wednesday audience lasted 30 minutes — the longest time he has appeared in public since returning to the Vatican on Feb. 10. Fully alert, he waved and gave his blessing at the end.

He was seen speaking in a hoarse voice but otherwise looking fairly well, he read a three-paragraph address and then greeted the pilgrims in six languages, including his native Polish.


When John Paul was discharged from the hospital, the Vatican made clear he would decide on his schedule in consultation with his doctors.

Because of his ailments, there has long been speculation that John Paul might consider resigning. That debate was fueled during his hospitalization when Cardinal Sodano declined to rule out that possibility, saying it was up to the pope’s “conscience.”

In a speech on Sunday, the pope said the essential task of the papacy was to ensure “the unity of the Church,” adding that the call “to guard his flock” was “particularly alive in him.”

Vatican watchers said the comments were an indication that the pontiff was determined to carry on in charge of the 1.1 billion-strong Church and had no intention of retiring.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Catholics worldwide pray for pontiff

I am so happy th ePope has gotten thru this ordeal. Thisis one strong man.
D Thanks Heavens for being on top of this Breaking News.

To be honest, I'm surpised he's lasted this long since going to the hospital earlier this month. I expected him to have passed on by now. He's a wily bugger...

It's weird to think that there's gotta be a death-watch under way for him, even if I don't agree with Catholicism...

He is a tough old bird. I don't think he will retire either. He will die with his Robes on so to speak. They already have an apartment in t he Vaticsn for Cardinals( hovering like vultures) I may add IMO. This Pope will be sorely missed when he passes. He has been a diplomat for the world and millions love him Cathoic or not.

D