Pope can still run Church if unable to speak, says Vatican

THE Pope can still run the Catholic Church even if he is unable to speak, a senior Vatican figure claimed yesterday.

As speculation continued that the ailing Pontiff might resign, Cardinal Mario Francesco Pompedda, prefect of a Vatican tribunal said in a newspaper interview: "It is sufficient that one's will be expressed, and be expressed in a clear way."

Cardinal Pompedda told La Stampa, "It can be expressed very well through writing, and in any case can be expressed also with clear and significant gestures."

The Pope spent a sixth calm night at the hospital, the ANSA news agency reported yesterday.

However, speculation that he might resign mounted after a senior Vatican official refused to rule it out.

"Let's leave that hypothesis up to the Pope's conscience," said the Holy See's number two, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, in answer to a reporter's query on Monday.

Cardinal Sodano expressed hope that John Paul hospitalised for a week with flu and breathing troubles would surpass Pius IX's 32 years in office, the longest papacy.

Still, he surprised some observers by not ruling out a resignation, which could indicate there is debate within the Vatican on the issue. Popes may resign but cannot be forced to do so.

"If there is a man who loves the Church more than anybody else, who is guided by the Holy Spirit, if there is a man who has marvellous wisdom, that's him. We must have great faith in the Pope. He knows what to do," said the Vatican's secretary of state, considered a possible papal successor.

John Paul, aged 84, and in his 27th year as Pontiff, has repeatedly said in the past that he has no intention of abdicating.

On Sunday, in remarks read out by an archbishop, the Pope appeared to reassert his ability to carry on by saying that even in the hospital, "I can continue to serve the church and the whole of humanity."

In 1994, after hip replacement surgery, he joked with his surgeon about the church law that would let him resign if he becomes incapacitated.

"Doctor, neither you nor I have any choice. You have to cure me because there is no room for a Pope emeritus," he said at the time.

Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls declined to comment on Cardinal Sodano's remarks, which were front-page news in Italy yesterday.

The spokesman told reporters that John Paul continued to get better a week after his emergency admission on February 1 to the Gemelli Polyclinic, but that "his doctors have advised him to stay a few more days".

Dr Navarro-Valls refused to be pinned down on a discharge date for the Pope, who is also weakened by Parkinson's disease.

The Vatican's next medical bulletin on the Pope's health is scheduled for tomorrow.