STATE OF THE POPE'S HEALTH
Thanks for the reassurance, stupor-mundi. I hope MaryJos feels better...
As someone who is quite cold-sensitive myself (having grown up in a country where the mean temperature year-round is 90 degrees Fahrenheit and the coolest it gets in the lowlands is perhaps 80 degrees!), I can understand why the Pope - who obviously looks after his health, and admits to being cold-sensitive as well as heat-sensitive, where John Paul II was particularly heat-sensitive - would wear a sweater for the Aula Paolo VI audience soon after getting over a cold that gave him that hoarse voice at last Wednesday's audience.
The hall would still be air-conditioned at full blast for those thousands of pilgrims from Emilia-Romagna. And I don't know about England, but I can't go out of the house in New York any more without a sweater or a jacket - autumn is here!
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P.S. Very apropos, Josie in the main forum just posted this article by Vatican correspondent Andrea Tornielli written for one of Italy's PEOPLE-style weekly magazines, DIPIU, to reassure the world about the state of Benedict's health. Here is a translation -
THE POPE'S HEALTH IS FINE!
By Andrea Tornielli
"I am an old man and I do not know how much more time the Lord will give me."
Benedict XVI said this simply and with a smile, answering a question from a newsman on the plane carrying him to Munich last month - his fourth international trip as Pope.
But those words unleashed headlines and a cacophony of voices in Italy that raised alarm over his health. An alarm that was disturbing to many of the faithful who have come to love him, after he stepped into the shoes of a predecessor who was there for very long.
First of all, what were his exact words? Soon after the plane had taken off from Rome, the Pope - following a custom begun by John Paul - went to the back of the plane where the media representatives were.
A German journalist asked him if he also planned to travel to Berlin in the future. The Pope answered:
"I am very happy to be returning home. It's certainly good to see my homeland at least one more time. But I am also Pope of the universal Church, and already I am thinking of my trip to Istanbul and my trip to Brazil next year.
"I am an old man, and I do not know how much more time the Lord will give me. I do not know if I can come back to Germany after this, but if I do, I would be very happy and would consider it a gift from God."
It is clear that these statements, said very naturally by a smiling Pope, do not contain anything alarming. It is a sensible answer given by a man of 79 going on 80 who was suddenly forced in April 2005 to change his life radically by taking on an enormous responsibility.
Benedict XVI also expressed himself in similar terms in the interview for German TV that he gave in August. He said then:
"I must say that I do not feel so strong that I can plan many long trips, but wherever such a trip will allow me to send a message, where such a trip responds to a true desire, I would go, to the degree that I am able to."
Instead, the words the Pope said on the plane were interpreted by many as a farewell to Germany and almost a direct announcement of poor health!
What is the state of the Pope's health, in fact? Does he really have serious problems? Whoever followed his schedule in Bavaria would have seen him able to endure fatigue, heat, long ceremonies, even delivering long homilies on his feet (instead of sitting, as he usually can when in the Vatican).
We do know that in the early 90s, the then Prefect of the CDF had one serious health episode. During a summer holiday in Bressanone, he apparently fainted and hit his head on a radiator, lying there for some time before someone got to him. He was treated for a circulatory problem [
others have said it was a mild stroke] which was fortunately resolved by timely intervention and since then, he has been on blood-thinning medication [
baby aspirin once a day, the usual clot preventive advised for most adults - his brother referred to the aspirin once in one of the many interviews he has given. A recent meta-study I had occasion to report on found that 2 baby aspirins a day will prevent primary or secondary stroke as well as myocardial infarction, or death of some heart tissue, in most adults. ]
But from that time, that problem has been well-controlled.
It must be understood that becoming Pope meant a sudden change in his daily routine and greater demands on him, even physically.
But he has known how to adapt himself and has tried to keep certain healthful habits from before, such as his daily walk. He used to do that in his Borgo Pio neighborhood, but now he does it in the Vatican gardens or on the roof garden installed by Paul VI in the Apostolic Palace.
Papa Ratzinger cannot stand very warm temperatures (so he cuts down the length of his messages during his weekly audience at St. Peter's when there is a heat wave) nor biting cold.
Having been accustomed all the years before he became Pope to wear a warm beret in winter, now that he can no longer do that as Pope, he has replaced it with traditional Papal headgear like the camauro, which covers his ears in winter, or the saturno, which protects his head from the hot sun. [
Not to mention the very practical white parasol that an aide can hold out over him, against the sun or against the rain].
When the open-air ceremonies are very long, we have seen him drink some water at some point during the rites.*
He also has to watch himself when he is in a high altitude. When he went up Mont Blanc last year, it was said he felt momentary dizziness.
Likewise, he must be careful about long airplane rides. But despite this natural precaution for a man his age, the plan to go to Brazil [a trip of at least eight hours from Rome] indicates that his state of health is satisfactory. Otherwise, the Vatican doctors would have advised against it.
We have the words, for example, of Burkhard Pfaff, the Pope's private doctor on the trip to Bavaria: "It is a minor medical miracle to see how well the Holy Father is."
TV viewers see how briskly and easily he goes up and down airplane steps. And when he was in Altoetting, he gave up his midday nap to walk in the gardens with his brother Georg.
So there are no health alarms at all. The Pope is well. Of course, this is a man who will be turning 80 in April, and who reasonably assumes that he will not have a very long Pontificate.
The statement he made on the plane, "I am an old man, I do not know if I will be able to come back", should not be interpreted as a warning bell, but as the simple statement of a man of faith, a Christian, a believer. Of someone, therefore, who is used to thinking everyday about meeting His Lord, knowing that for him as for everyone, the final call can come at any time.
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I don't know if anyone has given some thought to it, but having worked at one time for a public official whose daily schedule meant being in public view for hours at a time, I appreciate the 'preparation' it requires.
It means, among other things, that one must avoid eating or drinking anything that might force you to make a sudden trip to the bathroom in the middle of a public ceremony! It means emptying yourself literally before you start your public schedule. Minor but routine inconveniences for very public figures....
So when Papino takes a drink in public, we know he needs it!
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 09/10/2006 0.14]