c. 2005 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY _ A flu-stricken Pope John Paul II overcame a breathing crisis to become well enough Wednesday (Feb. 2) to concelebrate Mass from his hospital bed, the Vatican said.

A spokesman said a fever persisted, but insisted there was no cause for alarm. He suggested the 84-year-old Roman Catholic pontiff could be released from a Rome hospital in a few days.

Reports that John Paul had been taken to the hospital Tuesday night caused worldwide concern. Catholics from the Philippines to Wadowice, his birthplace in Poland, prayed for his recovery.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls reported in a midmorning bulletin on the pope’s condition that “therapy of respiratory assistance had stabilized the clinical picture.” He did not specify the type of assistance.

Navarro-Valls, who has a medical degree, said that the diagnosis Tuesday night of “acute laryngeal tracheitis with episodes of larynx spasm was confirmed” but that John Paul’s “cardio-respiratory and metabolic parameters” were now within normal limits. He said the pope still had a fever, but it was “little, very little.”

The spokesman told Vatican Radio that there was “no cause for alarm” and that the pope would be hospitalized for “a few more days.”

Tracheitis is an inflammation of the trachea, which apparently caused the spasms of the larynx, the upper part of the trachea. Navarro-Valls said that doctors had not considered performing a tracheotomy, which would have involved cutting into the trachea to ease the pope’s breathing.

Italy has had unusually arctic weather for more than a week, with freezing temperatures and high wind in Rome. Health authorities reported Tuesday that one out of 100 Italians is bedridden with influenza.

In his most recent public appearance, the pope stood at his open study window for about 20 minutes Sunday to lead the midday Angelus prayer in a hoarse voice and watch two children set white doves of peace in flight over St. Peter’s Square.

Navarro-Valls announced Monday that the pope had influenza and, on the advice of doctors, had canceled his appointments. He said Tuesday that John Paul was still ill and would not preside over his weekly general audience Wednesday.

The pope’s personal physician, Renato Buzzonetti, ordered that he be taken to the hospital after supper Tuesday night when the pontiff began having trouble swallowing and his breathing became labored.

Concern for the pope was heightened because he has shown symptoms since 1988 of Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative neurological disability that has considerably weakened his previously strong constitution. He cannot walk unassisted, has difficulty speaking clearly and sometimes stops to gasp for breath when delivering an address.

Gianni Pezzoli, director of the Parkinson’s Center of the Clinical Institute of Specialization in Milan, told the Italian news agency Adnkronos that the pope’s medical problem was a typical complication of the disease.

“The Parkinson’s patient tends to have, apart from problems of a motor order, also problems of swallowing and spitting so that generally a portion of saliva can end up in the lungs,” Pezzoli said. He said this made Parkinson’s suffers more vulnerable to “viruses or external bacteria that provoke influenza.”

An unmarked ambulance, which is on constant standby, transported John Paul to the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital, about 21/2 miles from the Vatican, at 10:50 p.m. (4:50 p.m. EST).

It was at the Gemelli Hospital that the pope received emergency care on May 13, 1981, when he was shot in the abdomen by Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca during an audience in St. Peter’s Square. The pope later underwent several operations there, including surgery in 1992 for a pre-cancerous tumor of the colon.

John Paul, accompanied by Buzzonetti, was taken to a suite on the 10th floor that is kept reserved for him and received treatment from a medical team led by Dr. Rodolfo Proietti, director of the Emergency Department.

“During the night the Holy Father slept for some hours,” Navarro-Valls said.

Talking to reporters in the Vatican Press Room, the spokesman said that no CAT scan was taken because “it was not necessary.” He also said that the pope did not at any time lose consciousness.

When he left the pope’s hospital room shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday, John Paul’s secretary and fellow Pole Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz was celebrating Mass, “and the pope was concelebrating from his bed,” Navarro-Valls said.

The spokesman, a Spaniard who often displays a dry wit, was relaxed enough to joke with reporters. When asked to confirm that an ambulance took the pope to the hospital, he replied: “The metro doesn’t arrive that far.”

MO/PH END RNS