Pope John Paul II made a surprise appearance at a hospital window on Wednesday, giving the Roman Catholic faithful their third glimpse of him since he was rushed back to the clinic for throat surgery nearly two weeks ago.
The 84-year-old pontiff’s brief appearance came shortly before noon on a day when he traditionally holds his weekly public audience at the Vatican — an event that often draws thousands of pilgrims.
John Paul’s left hand trembled as he clasped his hands together, but he waved and made the sign of the cross to the crowd below with a steady right hand. The pope suffers from Parkinson’s disease, which causes a gradual loss of muscle control.
Several hundred people gathered at the hospital, including schoolchildren who had come to sing beneath John Paul’s 10th-floor suite at Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic hospital, cheered as his hand came into view, shouting: ”The pope! The pope!” and ”He is blessing us!”.
The pope wore a black robe and sat behind a window that remained closed to keep out Rome’s unseasonably chilly weather.
John Paul has spent nearly two weeks at Gemelli, where he is resting and doing speech and breathing exercises following February 24 surgery to insert a tube in his windpipe and ease his latest health crisis.
The ailing pope skipped last week’s public audience, and papal spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters at the hospital earlier on Wednesday that there were no plans for the pontiff to make an appearance.
Pilgrims who booked package tours to Rome months in advance to see the pope’s audience were expected to converge on the hospital later in the day in hopes of a glimpse of him at Gemelli.
On Tuesday, the Vatican said the pope plans to give his traditional blessings on Easter Sunday but left it unclear whether he will appear in St Peter’s Square.
Officials said he will probably be discharged from the hospital by March 20, Palm Sunday, but that it is still unknown whether he can regain enough of his voice to address his faithful or take part in Holy Week ceremonies.
Since John Paul underwent the February 24 surgery, he has uttered no words to the public. Twice during this latest hospitalisation, he has made silent appearances at a hospital window, most recently on Sunday, when he waved and made the sign of the cross. — Sapa-AP