Vatican denies reports of Pope in coma
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-01 18:22

Pope John Paul II suffered heart failure during treatment for a urinary tract infection and was in "very serious" condition on Friday, the Vatican said, but denied a report that he was in a coma.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said that the pope, who was being treated at the Vatican, was given cardio-respiratory assistance after his heart failed Thursday afternoon.

Pope John Paul II touches his face as he appears from the window of his private apartment at the Vatican March 30, 2005. Pope John Paul's fragile health took a turn for the worse as he developed a very high fever caused by a urinary infection, the Vatican said. Picture taken March 30, 2005. [Reuters]

"This morning the condition of the Holy Father is very serious," the statement said.

The statement confirmed previous reports that the pope had received the sacrament for the sick and dying on Thursday evening. However, it said that the pope had participated in a 6 a.m. Mass Friday and was "conscious, lucid, and serene."

The Italian news agency Apcom, citing unidentified sources, said the 84-year-old pontiff had slipped into a coma earlier Friday.

The pope's health declined sharply after he developed a high fever Thursday brought on by the infection. He wished to remain at the Vatican and not be taken to a hospital, Navarro-Valls said.

Thousands of pilgrims gathered on St. Peter's Square Friday to stand vigil for John Paul, many tearfully gazing up at his third-floor window, and the faithful around the world joined in prayer.

Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the pope's vicar for Rome, said he visited John Paul early Friday and found him "profoundly serene and lucid."

"I prayed with him for a moment which profoundly moved me. The pope has completely left himself in God's hands. I invite all Romans and Italians to intensify prayers for him in this moment," Ruini told private TG5 television.

It is not clear who would be empowered to make medical decisions for an unconscious pope. The Vatican has officially declined to comment whether John Paul has left written instructions.

Around the world, people of different faiths joined in prayer for John Paul.

"Catholics, fellow Christians, ... will be praying for him at this time as he comes toward the end of his extraordinary and wonderful life," said Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the archbishop of Westminster and one of the most senior Catholic clerics in Britain, speaking to reporters outside London's Westminster Cathedral.

"Hopefully he can be given a longer life. He is really well-loved by the people," said Linda Nicol, tears streaming down her face, after she and her husband, Romy, said prayers at Redemptorist Church in the Baclaran district of Manila, in the Philippines.

In France, Muslim leader Dalil Boubakeur said Muslims were praying for the pope, whom he described as a "man of peace" whose stature has been a determining factor for change in the world.

Faithful pray for Pope John Paul's health in front of Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican March 31, 2005. - Pope John Paul has developed a very high fever caused by a urinary infection, the Vatican said on Thursday, in a major worsening of his already fragile health. [Reuters]

At St. Peter's, Swiss guards in their colorful uniforms stood by at the open Bronze Door, which by tradition is closed upon the death of a pontiff.

In the pope's home country, Poles gathered at churches as word spread Friday morning of his deteriorating condition.

"I want him to hold on but it is all in God's hands now," said 64-year-old Elzbieta Galuszko at the church where the pope was baptized in Wadowice, southern Poland. "We can only pray for him so he can pull through these difficult moments."

Formerly called the last rites, the sacrament is often misunderstood as signaling imminent death. It is performed, however, not only for patients at the point of death, but also for those who are very sick — and it may be repeated.

The Rome daily La Repubblica reported Friday that the sacrament was administered by John Paul's closest aide, Polish Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, who serves as his private secretary. Dziwisz had given the pontiff the same sacrament on Feb. 24 just before the pope underwent a tracheotomy to insert a tube in his throat at Gemelli Polyclinic, the newspaper said.

According to its account, John Paul had attended Mass Thursday morning in his private chapel, then did paperwork from an armchair. Abruptly, at 6:45 p.m., John Paul turned ghostly pale and his blood pressure plummeted, the newspaper said.

Navarro-Valls told The Associated Press by telephone that "the Holy Father today was struck by a high fever caused by a confirmed infection of the urinary tract."

The pontiff was started on "an appropriate" course of antibiotics, Navarro-Valls said. He was described as stable for a time but then declined.

The Vatican medical staff appeared confident it could handle the crisis with the sophisticated medical equipment installed for the pontiff.

After his heart failed, the pope was provided with "all the appropriate therapeutic provisions and cardio-respiratory assistance," the spokesman said.

He said that the pope was being helped by his personal doctor, two intensive care doctors, a cardiologist, an ear, nose and throat specialist, and two nurses.

A heart failure occurs when the heart no longer has the strength to pump blood through the body, and is a sign that the body's cardiac system is failing.

Dr Paolo Nardini, a Rome physician who is not part of the pope's team, said "a heart attack, which is very serious, affects only the heart, while heart failure signals a breakdown of the entire system, basically uncurable."

Hospitalized twice last month following two breathing crises and with a tube placed in his throat to help him breathe, John Paul has become a picture of suffering.

When he appeared at his apartment window Wednesday to bless pilgrims in St. Peter's Square, he managed to utter only a rasp.

Later that day, the Vatican announced he had been fitted with a feeding tube in his nose to help boost his nutritional intake.

John Paul's 26-year papacy has been marked by its call to value the aged and to respect the sick, subjects the pope has turned to as he battles Parkinson's disease and crippling knee and hip ailments.

Dr. Benjamin Ansell, an internist at UCLA School of Medicine, said a healthy person may recover from a high fever with no problem, but it could be devastating for those with neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease, which the pope has suffered for at least a decade. Some Parkinson's patients who develop a fever may turn catatonic, Ansell said.

"It's not a very promising situation," Ansell said.

The use of the feeding tube illustrates a key point of Roman Catholic policy John Paul has proclaimed: It is morally necessary to give patients food and water, no matter their condition.

As Parkinson's disease and other ailments have left him increasingly frail, the pope has been emphasizing that the chronically ill, "prisoners of their condition ... retain their human dignity in all its fullness."

The Vatican's attitude to the chronically ill has been apparent in its bitter condemnation of a judge's order two weeks ago to remove a feeding tube from Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged American woman who died Thursday.

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