It looks like this group will lose its' main purpose to exist soon when the subject of the group ceases to exist.
*** Pope John Paul II was fighting for breath when he was hospitalised in an emergency, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said. A medical report on the state of his health is planned for 1900 AEDT today, doctors said. They said the health report would be compiled by the Pope's personal physician, Dr Renato Buzzonetti, who had left Rome's Gemelli hospital about 1130 AEDT and was due to return several hours later, the same source said. Navarro-Valls denied speculation today that the 84-year-old pontiff, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, had been put on a life-support machine. The Vatican statement came after intense speculation over the frail Pope's state of health after Ansa reported he had been taken to the hospital outside the Vatican walls "as a precaution". Dozens of journalists and television crews rushed to the hospital and began a vigil outside the hospital gates as the world's Catholics waited for news of their spiritual leader. The Pope was taken to hospital last night with complications from a flu he had been suffering for days. "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, Mr Navarro-Valls said. "For this reason it was urgently decided that he be taken to the Policlinico Gemelli which happened at 10:50pm (8.50am AEDT)," the spokesman said in a statement released shortly before midnight yesterday. 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. But Navarro-Valls denied speculation that the Pope had been put on a life-support machine. "He is not in reanimation," the spokesman said, adding that the pontiff was being cared for by his medical team in a special room in the Gemelli hospital. 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 yesterday 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 today. "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 deferment," the papal spokesman later told Vatican radio. AFP --- In Pope-John-Paul-II@yahoogroups.com, "meteorite_debris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > http://smh.com.au/news/World/Pope-taken-to-hospital/2005/02/02/1107228732139.html > > http://tinyurl.com/4butb > > Pope taken to hospital with flu: Vatican > February 2, 2005 - 10:29AM > > Pope John Paul was taken to hospital suffering from an acute infection in his > throat, a Vatican spokesman said. > > The Polish-born Pope, 84, who has been in poor health for several years, fell > ill with influenza on Sunday and had been forced to cancel all engagements > over the past two days. > > "I can confirm that he has been taken to hospital," Vatican deputy spokesman > Father Ciro Benedettini said. He said a full statement on his condition would > be issued shortly. > > Italian television said the Pope had been taken to Rome's Gemelli hospital, > where he has been treated in the past. > > The flu forced him to miss an audience through ill health for the first time > in more than a year. > > A Vatican spokesman said in a statement earlier today that the influenza was > "progressing as expected". > > "As a result, the appointments planned for the next few days have been put > back," the statement said, adding that tomorrow's weekly general audience > would not go ahead. > > A Vatican source said yesterday that the Pope would miss all public > engagements today and tomorrow. > > Vatican officials had said earlier the Pope no longer had a fever and there > was no cause for alarm. > > Unusually cold weather in Rome has coincided with an outbreak of influenza > across Italy that has laid up about one per cent of the population, state > television said. > > The Pope, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and no longer walks in public, > last missed a scheduled event in September 2003 when his weekly audience was > scrapped because he was suffering from an intestinal ailment. > > The Pope's next important appointment is an audience on Friday with the > president of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell. Next week he has a > relatively busy program of religious events. > > The Pope was chosen by cardinals in a secret conclave on October 16, 1978, as > the first non-Italian Pontiff in four and a half centuries. > > The Pope has left his mark on the world like few others in the 20th century, > dominating the world stage as champion of the downtrodden but often a > contested defender of orthodoxy within his own church. > > He played a role in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989 and is > the first Pope to preach in either a Protestant Church or a synagogue. > > He is a tireless traveller who has clocked more than one million kilometres > in visits to some 130 countries. > > He has been determined to use his office to draw attention to the plight of > the world's neediest and most oppressed while at the same time keeping a firm > and conservative grip on his Church. > > But he has also been a visible source of deep division in a Church that has > grown to more than a billion members during his pontificate. > > Many Catholics, particularly in developed countries have disregarded his > teachings against contraception and contested his ban on women priests and > have campaigned for a liberal successor. > > Unswayed by their protests, he has waged an unflagging battle against > abortion, contraception, pre-marital sex, divorce, drug abuse and the > breakdown of traditional family values. > > Reuters ------------------------ Yahoo! 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