Pope John Paul II, who in a speech last year declared some life-extending treatments a moral duty for Roman Catholics, is now being fed through a nasal tube because of his throat problems, the Vatican announced Wednesday.

"In order to improve the caloric intake and to favour a valid recuperation of strength, enteral nutrition has been started by placing a nasal-gastric probe (tube)," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in statement made yesterday afternoon.

"All public audiences remain suspended," he added.

A Vatican source told the Agence-France Presse (AFP) that the pope had lost 19 kilos (40 pounds) since his operation five weeks ago and there was great concern at the Holy See over his chances of recovery.

According to the source, four nurses were doing 24-hour shifts to take care of the once robust pope who is now recovering from a throat operation during which a tube was inserted in his throat to ease his breathing on February 24.

In the past two months, the pope has spent a total of 28 days in two stints at Rome's Gemelli hospital. He suffers from a number of chronic illnesses, including crippling hip and knee ailments and Parkinson's disease, a progressive neurological disorder that can make breathing difficult.

In his appearance at his window on Wednesday, the pope was visibly thinner and frail, reports say.

Vatican photographers and cameramen have been ordered to not do any close-ups of the pontiff during his appearances, the source added.

Meanwhile, the Vatican reports that as the pope "continues his slow and progressive convalescence," he "spends many hours each day in an armchair, celebrates Mass in his private chapel and is in working contact with his collaborators, directly following the activity of the Holy See and the life of the Church."




Kenneth Chan
Ecuenical Press