Pope John Paul II on Thursday night underwent successful surgery to his windpipe after being rushed to hospital for the second time in a month with what the Vatican described as ”acute” respiratory difficulties.
His spokesperson, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, said the 30-minute tracheotomy ”was performed and completed positively”.
He said there was no immediate sign of complications. The Pope was recuperating in his hospital room late on Thursday night, breathing with the aid of a respirator, according to Italian media.
The drastic nature of the surgery — during which a hole is made in the throat and a tube inserted — underlined the grave condition of the frail Pope, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease.
It also raised the question of whether such a sick man could continue to lead the world’s one billion Roman Catholics.
The tracheotomy will prevent him from speaking for more than brief periods and may require a prolonged hospital stay.
Dr Navarro-Valls said the operation was needed to ”assure the patient’s adequate ventilation” and help tackle a persistent problem with the Pope’s larynx.
The 84-year-old pontiff was last admitted to hospital on February 2 suffering from laryngeal spasms that blocked the passage of air to his lungs.
The Vatican’s spokesperson said that the decision to readmit the Pope was because of complications arising from influenza he caught last month.
He said that in the last few days there had been a ”renewal of bouts of acute respiratory insufficiency”.
Until Thursday morning, the Pope had seemed to be making a tentative recovery, appearing in public on two occasions. – Guardian Unlimited Â