Prayers for Pope after emergency throat op

Pope John Paul II is recovering in hospital today after being rushed from the Vatican in an ambulance and undergoing a throat operation to ease his breathing, following a recurrence of flu-like symptoms.

Catholics all over the world said prayers for the pontiff last night and US president George Bush said the Pope was “in our thoughts and prayers”.

In his second health emergency in a month, the 84-year-old Pope was reportedly breathing with the help of a respirator, but an aide to Premier Silvio Berlusconi said the pontiff was conscious and “serene” after yesterday’s surgery at the Gemelli Polyclinico hospital.

Cabinet undersecretary Gianni Letta, Berlusconi’s right-hand man, told reporters at the hospital that he had met the Pope, who appeared well. After the operation, John Paul raised his hand and attempted to speak with doctors, but was told not to try, Letta said.

“I entered Gemelli very sombre and sad, and I leave very satisfied,” Letta said. “Doctors are very satisfied both at how he got through the operation and in these first hours of the post-operative phase.”

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the procedure was completed in “a positive way” and lasted 30 minutes.

The tracheotomy will probably have serious consequences for the Pope’s abilities to carry on his duties. The operation would prevent him from being able to speak for an extended period and probably require a long hospital stay. Anaesthesia is also risky for a person of the Pope’s age, especially considering the pontiff’s Parkinson’s disease.

Vatican officials said the Pope was stricken with breathing problems similar to those that sent him to Gemelli on February 1, and Italian news reports said the latest respiratory crisis was even more severe than the first one.

An American medical expert said the fact the Pope was hooked up to a respirator was an ominous sign.

“The fact that he is on a respirator is not good. The fact that he was readmitted so quickly is not good. All this suggests there’s a serious problem,” said Dr. Michael Kaplitt, a Parkinson’s disease expert at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Centre.

“When someone has a bad pneumonia from a flu, let’s say, you don’t usually do a (tracheotomy) on them because pneumonia is a lung problem,” said Kaplitt, adding that the procedure “is usually done when there’s an obstruction in the upper airway, such as swelling from infection”.

Navarro-Valls said the Pope had been informed of his situation and gave approval for the operation. John Paul’s flu symptoms had worsened in recent days with renewed respiratory problems, leading to the decision to perform the tracheotomy, the spokesman said.

Before the operation, the pontiff was well enough to joke with his medical team, Letta said. When doctors told the Pope that the operation would be a small one, the Pope retorted: “Small, it depends for whom,” according to Letta, who cited doctors’ accounts.

“We have known that the operation was perfectly successful and that there are no dangers. I am confident,” Berlusconi was quoted as saying by ANSA.

President Bush, flying home from a European trip, said: “The Holy Father is in our thoughts and prayers and we wish him a speedy recovery and return to the service of his church and of all humanity”.

In the Pope’s home town of Wadowice, southern Poland, worshippers offered prayers at an afternoon Mass in St Mary’s church, where the young Karol Wojtyla was baptised.

“This is very emotional moment for me,” said Zdzislaw Szczur, 54, the head of the Wadowice branch of Solidarity, the trade union best known abroad for its struggle in the 1980s to bring down communism. “His suffering really moves me. It’s all God’s providence now.”

The Pope’s breathing problems can complicate the swallowing difficulties characteristic of Parkinson’s disease. The lack of co-ordination of the muscles involved make it easy for food or saliva to get into the lungs, which can cause pneumonia.

The muscle problems also make it difficult for patients to head off infections by mustering a cough powerful enough to clear mucus from the lungs, especially if the patient’s posture is stooped, as is the Pope’s.