Recovering Pope waves to pilgrims

POPE John Paul II yesterday made the sign of the cross from the window of his hospital and greeted hundreds of faithful waiting in the courtyard below for the second Sunday since he was rushed back to the clinic with breathing trouble 11 days ago.

Wearing his white vestments, the 84-year-old Pope waved and made the sign of the cross to several hundred cheering pilgrims gathered in the damp chill at a small square with a view of his 10th-floor suite at Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic. The Pope looked alert as he sat behind the closed window, repeatedly raising his arms to bless the crowd, but he did not speak during the three-minute appearance.

John Paul was taken by ambulance to Gemelli with breathing spasms on February 1 and was released on February 10, only to be rushed back for February 24 throat surgery. He now is undergoing breathing and speech therapy at the clinic, a few miles from the Vatican.

With the Pope able to say only a few words with difficulty, the Vatican tapped Archbishop Leonardo Sandri - an Argentine from the Holy See’s secretary of state office who has become the pope’s official voice for the public - to again read out the Angelus and deliver the blessing to believers gathered at St Peter’s.

“Again today I would like to renew my expression of gratitude for all those signs of affection that have reached me,” the Pope said in a greeting read out by Archbishop Sandri.

“I am thinking, in particular, of the numerous cardinals, priests and groups of faithful, of ambassadors and of the ecumenical delegations that have come to the Gemelli Polyclinic in these days.

“I desire to give special recognition for the closeness of believers of other religions, chiefly Jews and Muslims. Some of them have wanted to come and pray here at the hospital. This for me is a comforting sign, for which I give thanks to God.”

Pilgrims danced in St Peter’s Square as the Pope was shown on a giant video screen.