ITALY: Pope John Paul was breathing normally and without aid yesterday after "a night of tranquil rest" following the tracheotomy operation carried out on him at Rome's Gemelli hospital on Thursday night. Paddy Agnew reports from Rome
Speaking to reporters in the Vatican, senior papal spokesman Dr Joaquin Navarro-Valls issued a generally upbeat statement about the 84-year-old pontiff's precarious health.
"The Holy Father spent a night of tranquil rest. This morning he ate breakfast with a good appetite. The post-operative situation continues regularly. He is breathing on his own and cardio-circulatory conditions remain good," said Dr Navarro-Valls, adding: "Upon the advice of his doctors, the Pope must not speak for several days so as to favour the recovery of the functions of the larynx."
The relative optimism surrounding the Pope was encouraged when Mr Gianni Letta, an aide to Italian prime minister Mr Silvio Berlusconi, visited him in hospital and said the Pontiff had a light-hearted go at his team of surgeons before being wheeled into operating theatre.
"He gently scolded the doctors who explained to him that his operation was a small one, replying, 'Small for whom?'" Mr Letta said.
The Pope had been rushed back to the Gemelli on Thursday morning, just two weeks after he had been dismissed from the hospital following a nine-day stay from the beginning of February. On that occasion, he had been hospitalised because of breathing difficulties compounded by a flu infection and a swollen larynx.
On Thursday, the Vatican said that his return to hospital was prompted by a relapse of his flu condition and the allied breathing difficulties.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Dr Navarro-Valls was keen to point out that the decision to subject the Pope to a tracheotomy was taken on "an elective" basis and that the Pope had not been subjected to an emergency procedure. The operation had been carried out, said the spokesman, in order to "assure adequate breathing" and also to allow the swollen larynx to heal.
He said the Pope was in relatively good form yesterday morning, eating a breakfast of a "caffe latte", 10 small biscuits and a yoghurt. He furthermore related that not long after Thursday night's half-hour-long operation, the Pope had asked for a pen and paper and had written the following, half in jest, whole in earnest: "What have they done to me? I am always totus tuus."
"Totus tuus" (literally "all yours") is the Pope's personal inscription addressed to the Madonna, whom he credits with having saved his life after the 1981 assassination attempt in St Peter's Square by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca.
Dr Navarro-Valls denied reports that the Pope required a respirator to help him breathe, saying that he is now able to breathe autonomously. As on Thursday night, he yesterday repeated that the operation (involving a small incision into the windpipe) had gone well, without hitches or complications.
Perhaps in response to media speculation that the Pope had left hospital too early two weeks ago, Dr Navarro-Valls said that at no time since his return to the Vatican had the Pope had a fever. Tests carried out on Thursday confirmed that he had no bronchia-pulmonary infection but merely an infection of the larynx.
Inevitably, and notwithstanding the Vatican's upbeat bulletin, the latest setback in the complicated medical track record of John Paul II seems certain to have a serious impact on his ability to perform his normal duties.
For a start, the Catholic Church currently has a supreme pontiff who is unable to speak and who must communicate by means of notes.
Secondly, it seems probable that this time the Pope's stay in hospital could be a matter of weeks rather than days. Speaking yesterday, however, Dr Navarro-Valls did not exclude that the Pope might take some part in tomorrow's weekly Angelus prayer.
When he was hospitalised at the beginning of the month, the Pope appeared at the window of his 10th-floor Gemelli private ward to say the Angelus prayers. A decision on what, if any, role the Pope performs in tomorrow's Angelus will be taken this morning.
Likewise, barring dramatic developments, the next bulletin on the Pope's health is due on Monday.