Posted on 04/28/2008 7:16:25 AM PDT by NYer
VATICAN CITY, APRIL 27, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Rumors suggesting that Benedict XVI's health is failing are "baseless," confirmed the Vatican.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, said this in statements to the press after the French newspaper Le Figaro published an article Saturday that raised questions regarding the Pontiff's health. The report also speculated on future successors to the papacy.
The spokesman said the article's assertions, published less than one week after the Pontiff ended his five-day apostolic trip to the United States, were "paradoxical.”
“Benedict XVI is well and it is paradoxical that doubts about his health are being manufactured precisely after his return from his demanding trip [to the U.S.], during which his schedule was not lightened in any way, and given the obvious joy with which the Pope responded to the welcome he received,” he said.
“It is curious that the doubts about the Pope’s health emerged in a moment in which everything proved that they had no basis,” Father Lombardi added.
On his April 15-20 trip to the United States the Pope followed an intense schedule that included delivering 19 speeches and homilies in five days.
Le Figaro's assertions were based on reports that Benedict XVI appeared tired as he celebrated Mass April 19 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, and that after the ceremony he was helped by aides so as "to not trip under the great weight of the liturgical vestments.”
Father Lombardi responded, “Any priest who celebrates with very heavy and long vestments is helped so that he does not trip on the stairs of the altar.”
The French newspaper also observed that the Pope didn't hold a general audience on the Wednesday after his return to Rome following trip so he could rest. The Vatican spokesman said the audience had been canceled two months before the trip to the United States, and that "the necessity of rest after a trip across the ocean is completely obvious, as anyone who has had to change time zones knows well."
And so it begins. How many journalists questioned JPII’s vitality over the years; he outlived most of them.

RATZ: HOW ARE YOU SATAN!!
RATZ: ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US.
RATZ: I HAVE A CHANCE TO SURVIVE GOD MAKE MY TIME.
RATZ: HA HA HA HA...
Le Figaro's assertions were based on reports that Benedict XVI appeared tired as he celebrated Mass April 19 at St. Patricks Cathedral in New York, and that after the ceremony he was helped by aides so as "to not trip under the great weight of the liturgical vestments."
A trip like the Pope's would be exhausting to ANYBODY, the adjustment to the time change alone is difficult.
The other thing to remember is that popes are elected for life, eventually they will die and the Church has ALWAYS been able to handle this.
So what?
It seems to really bug the secular media that we don't surplus our octogenarians to old folks' homes to wait for death and instead have some virile 50 year old run the ship.
The Pope is as sharp as a tack and as wise as Solomon. Doing 20 push-ups each morning isn't part of the Papal job description.
Exactly. I hope he has a good food taster, though, because these people hate him.
> And so it begins. How many journalists questioned JPII’s vitality over the years; he outlived most of them.
A prayer or two for the Holy Father will not be wasted. The quality of his reign will not necessarily determined by the length thereof, as I am finding in my newfound studies. Pope John Paul I being an excellent example of a short but wonderful life: his “Illustrissimi” is a truly great accomplishment.
LOL! Well, we could probably do worse...
IMHO, this is coming from a press which has nothing to do. Plus after getting through a very hectic week in the USA, April 15-20, 2008, it was expected he would be tired. Also he has to prepare to go down under in a few months for the WYD gathering. As America was a difference of 8 hours from Rome, going down under will be a whole day.
The time difference between Rome and Washington and NYC is 6 hours, not 8.
Just look at his predescesor, JPII, the Great, he made more trips in his 26-year-long reign, making him a frequent flyer for God and faith. For this I will always call him the patron saint of frequent flyers.
after the ceremony he was helped by aides so as "to not trip under the great weight of the liturgical vestments.
Anybody who's watched a Eucharistic procession or high ceremony of the old traditional type knows that the deacons or altar servers ceremonially hold the cope of the bishop, as nobles held the train of a king . . . .
But for liberals, of course, history began yesterday, so they do not know this.
...Oh, the time differences is about 6 hours from Rome not 8 as I thought.
I was always badly jet lagged going west-to-east, although it didn't bother me east-to-west. Something about going against the sun instead of with it makes it worse.
Did an Ask.com website research and it confirms it, you are right, it is a difference of 6 hours.

Let's not rush things. Pope Benedict XVI just turned 81.
One of the problems we are facing now is actually the long reign of JPII. While there was obviously much about him that was wonderful, he was a terrible administrator, and much of the disarray and disobedience of the bishops is due to his reluctance to enforce anything. The only people he was severe in dealing with were conservatives, whether because of his own opinions or those of members of the curia.
I think BXVI, who gained power only later in JPII’s reign, is now dealing with a totally out of control set of bishops (with their correspondingly out of control priests and laity) and this would not have been the case if JPII had had a shorter reign.
Still, what happens, happens, and the length of a reign - while in some sense favoring the person with the longest reign - is not necessarily the determining factor.
They also lift the long cassock/alb/dalmatic/chasuble as the celebrant walks up steps to prevent him from tripping. Had the French "journalist" done some basic homework like watching some footage of recent papal Masses, he would have seen that this is done at all papal Masses and not only during his trip to the USA.
He could cruise around the net and find a few photographs, just as I did, because I was pretty sure of my ground but wanted to confirm it with visual evidence.
Unfortunately the gremlins ate my pic of a Eucharistic procession at the Brompton Oratory, with two deacons holding the chasuble (or the humeral veil, hard to see exactly which) of the priest.
Ad multos annos!
Wow, they can’t wait, can they?
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