The doves and the Holy Father were very astounding, very moving and delightful, and I thought to myself... and stopped ... and now I think I was right. My sister in Rome e-mailed me to pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy for the Holy Father a moment ago. And even without that prompting I think it a very good idea.
Pope was fighting for breath before emergency hospital treatment: Vatican 02-01-2005, 23h52 Patrick Hertzog - (AFP/File) ROME (AFP) - Pope John Paul II was fighting for breath when he was hospitalized in an emergency, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said. "The flu which has been affecting the Holy Father for three days was complicated with acute inflammation of the larynx and laryngo-spasm," a condition where one cannot catch one's breath, Navarro-Valls said. "For this reason it was urgently decided that he be taken to the Policlinico Gemelli which happened at 10:50 pm," the spokesman said in a statement released shortly before midnight Tuesday. Laryngo-spasm is a medical term for the closure of the larynx that blocks the passage of air to the lungs. The Vatican statement came after intense speculation over 84-year-old John Paul II's state of health after Italy's Ansa news agency announced he had been taken to Rome's Gemelli hospital outside the Vatican walls "as a precaution". Citing Vatican sources, the agency said the pontiff's health did not give undue cause for concern because a fever he contracted on Sunday had gone down, though the pope did have a heavy cough. In recent years, the pope -- who suffers from Parkinson's disease, has been dogged by shortness of breath which has often forced him to leave much of his prepared homilies and speeches to aides to finish for him. But only rarely does he cancel official engagements for health reasons, despite his frail condition and advanced age. World political and religious leaders have many times paid tribute to the dignity with which the frail pontiff bears his suffering and it is rare that he misses a public engagement. The last time he cancelled a public appearance was in September 2003, because of gastric problems which had raised concerns for his health, especially after his visit to Slovakia just a few days previously appeared to have left him exhausted. He has previously had to cancel public appearances because of flu, which is particularly dangerous for the elderly, in January 1990 and February 1997. The pope was noticeably hoarse during his regular weekly Angelus address from his apartment window overlooking Saint Peter's Square on Sunday. He was however well enough on Monday to formally receive, as planned, the latest edition of the Pontifical yearbook, which reveals the latest statistics regarding vocations in the worldwide Roman Catholic church. Despite his hoarseness in his last public appearance at the Sunday angelus, the pope appeared in reasonably good form, given his age and infirmity due to a long battle with Parkinson's. He joked with young children who joined him for the Angelus to help him release a dove, symbolising a message of peace, which was reluctant to fly off from his apartment window. The Vatican announced earlier Tuesday that the pope cancelled all his public appointments in the coming days because of the "continuing progression" of his flu and confirmed that he would not hold his normal weekly general audience on Wednesday. "In consequence, his appointments scheduled for the coming days have been postponed. In particular, the general audience will not take place tomorrow," the Vatican said. "At this state I naturally can't predict whether it will be a matter of a day or three days. Logically, it will be short-term deferrment," the papal spokesman later told Vatican radio.
The doves and the Holy Father were very astounding, very moving and delightful, and I thought to myself... and stopped ... and now I think I was right.All you Irish women think the same! My wife said the very thing. And with the mess in the US church she was relieved the doves were snow white.
We must pray for the Holy Father and Holy Mother Church.