Holy Father may require a feeding tube

[cmotherofpirl]

Houston Chronicle:

Report: Pope may require feeding tube
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — Pope John Paul II may have to return to the hospital to have a feeding tube inserted, an Italian news agency reported today. It stressed that no decision had been made.

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 today, 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.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

:wub: The Suffering Servant of the Servants of God :wub:

[shelly_freak]

Prayers for Papa :wub:

[littleflower+JMJ]

pray always for the Pope!

[CarpeDiem88]

Pray for the Pope.
And not to make a joke, but hopefully they wont remove his.

[Moosey]

Yea I was about to say that Carpediem.

They gonna starve the Pope now?? Hmmmmmm????

[Socrates]

Prayers.

[Scofizzle]

* just a side note (no offense to cmom) the Houston Chronicle is the worst paper in the country.


Prayers for the Pope.....If he does have a feeding tube I wonder how many people out there will be screaming for them to remove his feeding tube.

[Dreamweaver]

Prayers for the Holy Father. The first thing that came to my mind was how unfairily Terri was treated because she was on a feeding tube.

[Philippe]

how ironic

[FiZzGiG]

[quote]* just a side note (no offense to cmom) the Houston Chronicle is the worst paper in the country.[/quote]

My godmother is a reporter for the Chronicle


Is it really that bad?...
That's the only newspaper we get...

[cathgirl]

:hearts: Prayers! :wub:

[Dudette]

[quote name='Dreamweaver' date='Mar 29 2005, 06:44 PM'] Prayers for the Holy Father. The first thing that came to my mind was how unfairily Terri was treated because she was on a feeding tube. [/quote]
same here.

Prayers for the Pope. :wub:

[Catholictothecore]

You know, I've heard that at our own (gulp) deaths, God gives us the oppurtunity to unite our own "passion" to His. Prayers for the pope in that department.

[Ash Wednesday]

Jeeeeez. If irony itself could scream...