Pope John Paul's private secretary played down concerns about the pontiff's health today and said recent comments by a senior cardinal about the pope's condition had been taken out of context.
Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, the pope's long-term personal secretary, said Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a senior German prelate, had broken down in tears when he discovered that comments he made in the street had been reported in a magazine.
"He [Cardinal Ratzinger] didn't give anyone an interview, but when he was stopped by a journalist on the street he went as far as saying: 'If the pope is ill, pray for him,'" he explained.
Earlier this week, the German magazine Buntequoted Cardinal Ratzinger, who heads the Vatican's powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as saying in an interview: "He [the pope] is in a bad way. We should pray for the pope."
The reported comments caused a wave of concern throughout the billion-strong Roman Catholic community, where fears are running high about the condition of the 83-year-old pontiff, who has looked increasingly ill in recent weeks.
As well as trying to clarify Cardinal Ratzinger's comments, Archbishop Dziwisz urged reporters not to overdramatise John Paul's health problems. He said much that had been written over the years had ultimately proved false.
He added, with a smile: "Some journalists who in recent years have spoken and written a lot about the pope's health are already in heaven."