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Vatican denies reports of Pope in coma
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-01 18:22
Pope John Paul II suffered heart failure during treatment for a urinary tract
infection and was in "very serious" condition on Friday, the Vatican said, but
denied a report that he was in a coma.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said that the
pope, who was being treated at the Vatican, was given cardio-respiratory
assistance after his heart failed Thursday afternoon.
Pope John Paul II
touches his face as he appears from the window of his private apartment at
the Vatican March 30, 2005. Pope John Paul's fragile health took a turn
for the worse as he developed a very high fever caused by a urinary
infection, the Vatican said. Picture taken March 30, 2005.
[Reuters] |
"This morning the condition of the Holy Father is very serious," the
statement said.
The statement confirmed previous reports that the pope had received the
sacrament for the sick and dying on Thursday evening. However, it said that the
pope had participated in a 6 a.m. Mass Friday and was "conscious, lucid, and
serene."
The Italian news agency Apcom, citing unidentified sources, said the
84-year-old pontiff had slipped into a coma earlier Friday.
The pope's health declined sharply after he developed a high fever Thursday
brought on by the infection. He wished to remain at the Vatican and not be taken
to a hospital, Navarro-Valls said.
Thousands of pilgrims gathered on St. Peter's Square Friday to stand vigil
for John Paul, many tearfully gazing up at his third-floor window, and the
faithful around the world joined in prayer.
Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the pope's vicar for Rome, said he visited John Paul
early Friday and found him "profoundly serene and lucid."
"I prayed with him for a moment which profoundly moved me. The pope has
completely left himself in God's hands. I invite all Romans and Italians to
intensify prayers for him in this moment," Ruini told private TG5 television.
It is not clear who would be empowered to make medical decisions for an
unconscious pope. The Vatican has officially declined to comment whether John
Paul has left written instructions.
Around the world, people of different faiths joined in prayer for John Paul.
"Catholics, fellow Christians, ... will be praying for him at this time as he
comes toward the end of his extraordinary and wonderful life," said Cardinal
Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the archbishop of Westminster and one of the most senior
Catholic clerics in Britain, speaking to reporters outside London's Westminster
Cathedral.
"Hopefully he can be given a longer life. He is really well-loved by the
people," said Linda Nicol, tears streaming down her face, after she and her
husband, Romy, said prayers at Redemptorist Church in the Baclaran district of
Manila, in the Philippines.
In France, Muslim leader Dalil Boubakeur said Muslims were praying for the
pope, whom he described as a "man of peace" whose stature has been a determining
factor for change in the world.
Faithful pray for
Pope John Paul's health in front of Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican
March 31, 2005. - Pope John Paul has developed a very high fever caused by
a urinary infection, the Vatican said on Thursday, in a major worsening of
his already fragile health. [Reuters] | At St. Peter's, Swiss guards in their colorful uniforms stood by at the open
Bronze Door, which by tradition is closed upon the death of a pontiff.
In the pope's home country, Poles gathered at churches as word spread Friday
morning of his deteriorating condition.
"I want him to hold on but it is all in God's hands now," said 64-year-old
Elzbieta Galuszko at the church where the pope was baptized in Wadowice,
southern Poland. "We can only pray for him so he can pull through these
difficult moments."
Formerly called the last rites, the sacrament is often misunderstood as
signaling imminent death. It is performed, however, not only for patients at the
point of death, but also for those who are very sick — and it may be repeated.
The Rome daily La Repubblica reported Friday that the sacrament was
administered by John Paul's closest aide, Polish Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz,
who serves as his private secretary. Dziwisz had given the pontiff the same
sacrament on Feb. 24 just before the pope underwent a tracheotomy to insert a
tube in his throat at Gemelli Polyclinic, the newspaper said.
According to its account, John Paul had attended Mass Thursday morning in his
private chapel, then did paperwork from an armchair. Abruptly, at 6:45 p.m.,
John Paul turned ghostly pale and his blood pressure plummeted, the newspaper
said.
Navarro-Valls told The Associated Press by telephone that "the Holy Father
today was struck by a high fever caused by a confirmed infection of the urinary
tract."
The pontiff was started on "an appropriate" course of antibiotics,
Navarro-Valls said. He was described as stable for a time but then declined.
The Vatican medical staff appeared confident it could handle the crisis with
the sophisticated medical equipment installed for the pontiff.
After his heart failed, the pope was provided with "all the appropriate
therapeutic provisions and cardio-respiratory assistance," the spokesman said.
He said that the pope was being helped by his personal doctor, two intensive
care doctors, a cardiologist, an ear, nose and throat specialist, and two
nurses.
A heart failure occurs when the heart no longer has the strength to pump
blood through the body, and is a sign that the body's cardiac system is failing.
Dr Paolo Nardini, a Rome physician who is not part of the pope's team, said
"a heart attack, which is very serious, affects only the heart, while heart
failure signals a breakdown of the entire system, basically uncurable."
Hospitalized twice last month following two breathing crises and with a tube
placed in his throat to help him breathe, John Paul has become a picture of
suffering.
When he appeared at his apartment window Wednesday to bless pilgrims in St.
Peter's Square, he managed to utter only a rasp.
Later that day, the Vatican announced he had been fitted with a feeding tube
in his nose to help boost his nutritional intake.
John Paul's 26-year papacy has been marked by its call to value the aged and
to respect the sick, subjects the pope has turned to as he battles Parkinson's
disease and crippling knee and hip ailments.
Dr. Benjamin Ansell, an internist at UCLA School of Medicine, said a healthy
person may recover from a high fever with no problem, but it could be
devastating for those with neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease,
which the pope has suffered for at least a decade. Some Parkinson's patients who
develop a fever may turn catatonic, Ansell said.
"It's not a very promising situation," Ansell said.
The use of the feeding tube illustrates a key point of Roman Catholic policy
John Paul has proclaimed: It is morally necessary to give patients food and
water, no matter their condition.
As Parkinson's disease and other ailments have left him increasingly frail,
the pope has been emphasizing that the chronically ill, "prisoners of their
condition ... retain their human dignity in all its fullness."
The Vatican's attitude to the chronically ill has been apparent in its bitter
condemnation of a judge's order two weeks ago to remove a feeding tube from
Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged American woman who died
Thursday.
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