http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/020805_nw_pope_latest.html
Pope to Miss Ash Wednesday Prayers
ROME, ITALY — A Vatican spokesman says Pope John Paul the second will remain
hospitalized for a few more days as a "precaution." The Vatican said today that
his health problems will cause the Pontiff to miss tomorrow's Ash Wednesday
services for the first time since he became Pontiff in 1978.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with the Vatican's second in
command.
Rice met with her Vatican counterpart Cardinal Angleo Sodano Tuesday, while the
Pope remained in the hospital. Yesterday, Sodano shocked some Vatican observers
by responding to a question about whether the Pope would consider resigning.
Although the possibility is always brought up when a Pope falls ill, Vatican
officials have rarely addressed the issue in public.
"Let's leave this to the Pope's conscience, Sodando said. "We have enormous
faith in him. He knows what to do."
Vatican Correspondent Marcus Politi says, "It's always better that at least
officially and publicly, it's always the Pope has decided to step down."
But at a brief appearance from his suite at Gemelli Hospital Sunday, the pope
seemed determined to show he is not ready to step down.
Vatican Analyst Wilton Winn says, "It would take an awful lot for him to lay
down that burden. And I think it showed he just is determined to go on to the
very absolute end."
Other Vatican experts wonder how much longer he'll have the physical capacity
to lead the Church. The 84-year-old Pontiff has advanced Parkinson's disease,
which may lead to dementia.
No one can force a Pontiff to resign. The last time a Pope did was more than
500 years ago.
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"[M]y ministry is that of servus servorum Dei."
--Pope John Paul II (Ut Unum Sint, no. 88)
"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock
I will build my church, and the powers of death
shall not prevail against it."
--Matthew 16:18
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