Posted on 03/29/2005 11:26:11 AM PST by repubzilla
The APcom news agency, citing an unidentified source, said the 84-year-old pope might have to have the tube inserted to improve his nutrition since he is having difficulty swallowing with the breathing tube that was inserted Feb. 24.
APcom said the idea of inserting a feeding tube was a hypothesis that was being considered. The procedure involves inserting a tube into the stomach to allow for artificial feeding.
Earlier Tuesday, the Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported that the pope's doctors were considering a new hospitalization next week both to perform tests on the breathing tube and to adjust his diet because of problems swallowing.
There was no comment from the Vatican. Nicola Cerbino, a spokesman at Polyclinic Gemelli hospital where John Paul was rushed twice last month, called it media speculation.
Another newspaper, La Repubblica, quoted the pope's Vatican physician, Dr. Renato Buzzonetti, as saying doctors are "reasonably calm" about the frail pope's condition.
The pontiff, who was unable to preside at Holy Week events, skipped another tradition Monday -- a post-Easter blessing from his window -- ending the Easter holiday as silently as he began it.
A few hundred people had gathered in St. Peter's Square in hopes that John Paul would appear as he has on each Easter Monday of his 26-year pontificate, and Vatican TV cameras zoomed in on his third-floor window at about noon.
But the curtains remained closed as the pope continued his recovery from throat surgery.
"Despite the regret, we're happy because it's good that he continues his convalescence without strain," said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, head of programming at Radio Vatican.
John Paul's appearance on Easter Sunday -- when he tried but failed to speak -- was still on the minds of many at the Vatican, a dramatic end to a Holy Week in which the pope's suffering was clearly evident.
John Paul had come to his studio window at the end of Easter Mass to bless the tens of thousands of people in the square below. Aides readied a microphone, and he tapped it as if preparing to speak. But after uttering a few unintelligible sounds, he made the sign of the cross with his hand and the microphone was taken away.
Vatican Radio said Monday it would be difficult to ever forget the pope's pained "Urbi et Orbi" blessing and that it would "remain in the history of the church and humanity."
"This silence -- full of emotion and desire to speak beyond the physical ability to communicate -- spoke to us perhaps as never before the universal language of love," Lombardi said. "For us it was enough. We understood what the pope wanted to say, and how much he wanted to bless us."
John Paul last spoke to the public March 13, shortly before he was discharged from the hospital for a second time in a month. In addition to the breathing tube, John Paul suffers from Parkinson's disease, which makes it difficult for him to talk.
Lucky him he is not in Florida.
How dare the Pope consider a feeding tube. He's a Christian, he should just die and go be with the Lord. After all, heaven is preferable to Earth, right? [/sarcasm]
Just quoting some of the insanity I've heard directed against Terri.
I wish the Pope comfort.
PLEASE pray that the Pope doesn't go to Flordia!!!!!!
Thanx.
And...like him his not married to an a$$hole.
It's a good thing they don't let priests marry, then. Could you imagine if the pope were married to a Michael Schiavo equivalent -- a slutty babe living with another man and their two children -- and her efforts to convince the gullible MSM that the Pope would never want to live if he had to be fed by a feeding tube!
Prayers for the Holy Father.
I meant "lucky"
And that is as it should be. Certainly for me.
Wait a minute! Wasn't Terri and Michael supposedly Catholic? What irony!
Someone tell him not to visit Florida.
This is too bizarre. I can't wait for the FR thread demanding that it be removed because it is an extreme measure to keep him alive. /sarcasm/
No, there are some "Good" Germans poster here, that if the "LAW" said so, they would demand it
That was a good one.
NICE!!!! So very right.
JFK, C.S. Lewis, Aldous Huxley
November 22, 1963
I think Terri is and Michael is not.
I would assume that the pope's wishes have been made clear and that his legal next of kin doesn't have ulterior motives.
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