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.