Lourdes trip could be last goodbye for ‘weakened’ Pope

THE Pope is “seriously weakened” and may have been making his farewells to life at Lourdes, said a cardinal who accompanied John Paul to the French shrine at the weekend.

“It was one of the most moving celebrations ever,” Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who is seen as a possible future pope, told newspapers.

“The Pope’s health has seriously weakened. When the Pope says: ‘I end my pilgrimage here’, that could mean two things. That, at least was how people listening to him in the field interpreted it. It was almost his goodbye to Lourdes and maybe also to his life,” the cardinal said.

Danneels told Belgian VRT radio the Pope’s comments about the end of his pilgrimage “may point to something deeper”.

“It could of course mean that it is not something that will happen tomorrow or next month but that he does consider that the end is approaching,” he added.

The Pope, whose speech is often hard to understand, no longer walks in public and has to be wheeled around in a special chair.

His voice was sometimes slurred during Sunday’s open-air Mass and he nearly collapsed on Saturday as he knelt at the grotto.

It is not the first time his frailty on a foreign trip has fuelled speculation over how long he has left to live.

During a visit to Slovakia last September, he was so weak his aides had to read most of his speeches. Many people believed then that he would not travel again.

It was an official holiday at the Vatican yesterday, and church officials did not immediately issue any comment on the cardinal’s assessment of the pope’s health. The 84-year-old pontiff, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease and crippling hip and knee problems, trembled and asked for help at one point during Sunday’s 2 1/2 hour open-air service.

The Vatican said John Paul made the trip to Lourdes for spiritual reasons, but many who visit the shrine are sick, handicapped or aged seeking miracle cures. Thousands claim to have been healed and the church has recognised 66 cures as miracles.

Last October, Cardinal Danneels said in a magazine interview he thought ailing popes in the future would abdicate, because there were currently no provisions in church law to remove an incapacitated pontiff. He later stressed that such a decision must be the prerogative of the pope and that he thought John Paul was still mentally astute, despite his failing health.