"Meteorite Debris" <abuse@optusnet,com.au> wrote in message
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http://smh.com.au/news/World/Pope-taken-to-
hospital/2005/02/02/1107228732139.html

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Pope taken to hospital with flu: Vatican
February 2, 2005 - 10:29AM

Pope John Paul was taken to hospital suffering from an acute infection
in his throat, a Vatican spokesman said.

The Polish-born Pope, 84, who has been in poor health for several
years, fell ill with influenza on Sunday and had been forced to cancel
all engagements over the past two days.

I will take this opportunity to remind everyone that two years ago I
predicted that the pope would die before the middle of February 2005....we
shall find out soon if I really am a true psychic!!!

*suspenseful music*

I will take this opportunity to remind everyone that two years ago I
predicted that the pope would die before the middle of February 2005....we
shall find out soon if I really am a true psychic!!!

On Wed, 2 Feb 2005 14:03:52 +1030 the ET form known as Meteorite
Debris<abuse@optusnet> sent a radio signal across the vast expanse of
deep space -._.--._.--._.--._.--._.--._.

http://smh.com.au/news/World/Pope-taken-to-
hospital/2005/02/02/1107228732139.html

http://tinyurl.com/4butb

Pope taken to hospital with flu: Vatican
February 2, 2005 - 10:29AM

An update from the SMH

Pope John Paul II was fighting for breath when he was hospitalised in
an emergency, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.

A medical report on the state of his health is planned for 1900 AEDT
today, doctors said.

They said the health report would be compiled by the Pope's personal
physician, Dr Renato Buzzonetti, who had left Rome's Gemelli hospital
about 1130 AEDT and was due to return several hours later, the same
source said.

Navarro-Valls denied speculation today that the 84-year-old pontiff,
who suffers from Parkinson's disease, had been put on a life-support
machine.

The Vatican statement came after intense speculation over the frail
Pope's state of health after Ansa reported he had been taken to the
hospital outside the Vatican walls "as a precaution".

Dozens of journalists and television crews rushed to the hospital and
began a vigil outside the hospital gates as the world's Catholics
waited for news of their spiritual leader.

The Pope was taken to hospital last night with complications from a
flu he had been suffering for days.

"The flu which has been affecting the Holy Father for three days was
complicated with acute inflammation of the larynx and laryngo-spasm,"
a condition where one cannot catch one's breath, Mr Navarro-Valls
said.

"For this reason it was urgently decided that he be taken to the
Policlinico Gemelli which happened at 10:50pm (8.50am AEDT)," the
spokesman said in a statement released shortly before midnight
yesterday.

Laryngo-spasm is a medical term for the closure of the larynx that
blocks the passage of air to the lungs.

The Vatican statement came after intense speculation over 84-year-old
John Paul II's state of health after Italy's Ansa news agency
announced he had been taken to Rome's Gemelli hospital outside the
Vatican walls "as a precaution".

Citing Vatican sources, the agency said the pontiff's health did not
give undue cause for concern because a fever he contracted on Sunday
had gone down, though the Pope did have a heavy cough.

But Navarro-Valls denied speculation that the Pope had been put on a
life-support machine.

"He is not in reanimation," the spokesman said, adding that the
pontiff was being cared for by his medical team in a special room in
the Gemelli hospital.

In recent years, the Pope - who suffers from Parkinson's disease, has
been dogged by shortness of breath which has often forced him to leave
much of his prepared homilies and speeches to aides to finish for him.

But only rarely does he cancel official engagements for health
reasons, despite his frail condition and advanced age.

World political and religious leaders have many times paid tribute to
the dignity with which the frail pontiff bears his suffering and it is
rare that he misses a public engagement.

The last time he cancelled a public appearance was in September 2003,
because of gastric problems which had raised concerns for his health,
especially after his visit to Slovakia just a few days previously
appeared to have left him exhausted.

He has previously had to cancel public appearances because of flu,
which is particularly dangerous for the elderly, in January 1990 and
February 1997.

The Pope was noticeably hoarse during his regular weekly Angelus
address from his apartment window overlooking Saint Peter's Square on
Sunday.

He was however well enough on Monday to formally receive, as planned,
the latest edition of the Pontifical yearbook, which reveals the
latest statistics regarding vocations in the worldwide Roman Catholic
church.

Despite his hoarseness in his last public appearance at the Sunday
angelus, the Pope appeared in reasonably good form, given his age and
infirmity due to a long battle with Parkinson's.

He joked with young children who joined him for the Angelus to help
him release a dove, symbolising a message of peace, which was
reluctant to fly off from his apartment window.

The Vatican announced earlier yesterday that the Pope cancelled all
his public appointments in the coming days because of the "continuing
progression" of his flu and confirmed that he would not hold his
normal weekly general audience today.

"In consequence, his appointments scheduled for the coming days have
been postponed. In particular, the general audience will not take
place tomorrow," the Vatican said.

"At this state I naturally can't predict whether it will be a matter
of a day or three days. Logically, it will be short-term deferment,"
the papal spokesman later told Vatican radio.

AFP