Jolie Rouge
08-16-2004, 11:39 AM
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story.jsp?flok=FF-RTO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0002/20040816/0428313789.htm&photoid=20040815LOU111
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BRUSSELS, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Pope John Paul's health has deteriorated and the head of the Roman Catholic Church may be near the end of his life, a Belgian cardinal was quoted as saying on Monday.
The 84-year-old Pope, who has Parkinson's disease and severe arthritis, visibly struggled as he wound up an emotional visit to the French miracle shrine of Lourdes on Sunday.
A crowd of about 200,000 listened to his words from a field near the grotto where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a peasant girl in 1858.
"It was one of the most moving celebrations ever," Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who is seen as a leading contender to succeed John Paul, was quoted as saying in the Belgian daily Het Laatste Nieuws. "The Pope's health has seriously weakened. When the Pope says: 'I end my pilgrimage here', that could mean two things. That, at least was how people listening to him in the field interpreted it. It was almost his goodbye to Lourdes and maybe also to his life," the cardinal added.
Danneels told Belgian VRT radio the Pope's comments about the end of his pilgrimage "may point to something deeper."
"It could of course mean that it is not something that will happen tomorrow or next month but that he does consider that the end is approaching," he added.
The Pope, whose speech is often hard to understand, no longer walks in public and has to be wheeled around in a s]pecial chair. His voice was sometimes slurred during Sunday's open-air Mass and he nearly collapsed on Saturday as he knelt at the grotto.
It is not the first time his frailty on a foreign trip has fuelled speculation over how long he has left to live. During a visit to Slovakia last September, he was so weak his aides had to read most of his speeches. Many people believed then that he would not travel again.
08/16/04 04:28
Pope struggles over Lourdes Mass
Sunday, August 15, 2004 Posted: 11:11 AM EDT (1511 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/08/15/france.pope/index.html
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2004/WORLD/europe/08/15/france.pope/long.lour des.ap.jpg
Pope John Paul II concentrates during the open-air Mass on Sunday.
LOURDES, France -- An ailing Pope John Paul II has celebrated an open-air Mass for several hundred thousand pilgrims, many in wheelchairs, near a French shrine to the Virgin Mary associated with miraculous cures. Sunday's Mass was the highlight of the pontiff's two-day visit to the southwestern French town of Lourdes, where the Madonna is said to have appeared to St. Bernadette in 1858.
At one point the pontiff said "help me" in Polish while reciting his homily in French. Aides gave him water to drink and later said "I have to finish."
The pope did manage to complete his sermon but skipped several sections. He raised his voice to express "special affection" for the sick.
The crowd of about 200,000 applauded at times to encourage the 84-year-old pope, who has Parkinson's disease and arthritis. He also drew cheers for his message condemning materialism and secularism, The Associated Press reported. He also urged women to reject abortion, saying life must "be respected from conception to its natural end."
The pontiff spent the first day of his visit among pilgrims at the city's popular shrine, where he called himself a sick man among the suffering. His frailty was evident in his hesitant airport arrival address to President Jacques Chirac on Saturday and later at the grotto where the vision is said to have occurred. The pontiff lost his balance while kneeling to pray and aides rushed to prevent him from falling before seating him back on his wheeled throne.
After several minutes of prayer, he designated a cardinal to read his address for him. "With you I share a time of life marked by physical suffering, yet not for that reason any less fruitful in God's wondrous plan," he said. "Dear brothers and sisters who are sick, how I would like to embrace each and every one of you with affection, to tell you how close I am to you and how much I support you. With great emotion I wish to join the millions of pilgrims who come to Lourdes each year from every part of the world, in order to entrust to the Mother of the Lord the intentions which they bear in their hearts and to ask for her help and intercession," he said.
http://channels.netscape.com/fotosrch/2/20040815LOU111.jpg
BRUSSELS, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Pope John Paul's health has deteriorated and the head of the Roman Catholic Church may be near the end of his life, a Belgian cardinal was quoted as saying on Monday.
The 84-year-old Pope, who has Parkinson's disease and severe arthritis, visibly struggled as he wound up an emotional visit to the French miracle shrine of Lourdes on Sunday.
A crowd of about 200,000 listened to his words from a field near the grotto where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a peasant girl in 1858.
"It was one of the most moving celebrations ever," Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who is seen as a leading contender to succeed John Paul, was quoted as saying in the Belgian daily Het Laatste Nieuws. "The Pope's health has seriously weakened. When the Pope says: 'I end my pilgrimage here', that could mean two things. That, at least was how people listening to him in the field interpreted it. It was almost his goodbye to Lourdes and maybe also to his life," the cardinal added.
Danneels told Belgian VRT radio the Pope's comments about the end of his pilgrimage "may point to something deeper."
"It could of course mean that it is not something that will happen tomorrow or next month but that he does consider that the end is approaching," he added.
The Pope, whose speech is often hard to understand, no longer walks in public and has to be wheeled around in a s]pecial chair. His voice was sometimes slurred during Sunday's open-air Mass and he nearly collapsed on Saturday as he knelt at the grotto.
It is not the first time his frailty on a foreign trip has fuelled speculation over how long he has left to live. During a visit to Slovakia last September, he was so weak his aides had to read most of his speeches. Many people believed then that he would not travel again.
08/16/04 04:28
Pope struggles over Lourdes Mass
Sunday, August 15, 2004 Posted: 11:11 AM EDT (1511 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/08/15/france.pope/index.html
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2004/WORLD/europe/08/15/france.pope/long.lour des.ap.jpg
Pope John Paul II concentrates during the open-air Mass on Sunday.
LOURDES, France -- An ailing Pope John Paul II has celebrated an open-air Mass for several hundred thousand pilgrims, many in wheelchairs, near a French shrine to the Virgin Mary associated with miraculous cures. Sunday's Mass was the highlight of the pontiff's two-day visit to the southwestern French town of Lourdes, where the Madonna is said to have appeared to St. Bernadette in 1858.
At one point the pontiff said "help me" in Polish while reciting his homily in French. Aides gave him water to drink and later said "I have to finish."
The pope did manage to complete his sermon but skipped several sections. He raised his voice to express "special affection" for the sick.
The crowd of about 200,000 applauded at times to encourage the 84-year-old pope, who has Parkinson's disease and arthritis. He also drew cheers for his message condemning materialism and secularism, The Associated Press reported. He also urged women to reject abortion, saying life must "be respected from conception to its natural end."
The pontiff spent the first day of his visit among pilgrims at the city's popular shrine, where he called himself a sick man among the suffering. His frailty was evident in his hesitant airport arrival address to President Jacques Chirac on Saturday and later at the grotto where the vision is said to have occurred. The pontiff lost his balance while kneeling to pray and aides rushed to prevent him from falling before seating him back on his wheeled throne.
After several minutes of prayer, he designated a cardinal to read his address for him. "With you I share a time of life marked by physical suffering, yet not for that reason any less fruitful in God's wondrous plan," he said. "Dear brothers and sisters who are sick, how I would like to embrace each and every one of you with affection, to tell you how close I am to you and how much I support you. With great emotion I wish to join the millions of pilgrims who come to Lourdes each year from every part of the world, in order to entrust to the Mother of the Lord the intentions which they bear in their hearts and to ask for her help and intercession," he said.