ROME, Feb. 27 – A mute Pope John Paul II appeared at his hospital window Sunday and blessed a small crowd outside just moments after a stand-in read prayers and a message on his behalf on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica a few miles away.
The pope missed delivering the noon prayers for the first time in his 26-year papacy. He has been voiceless since Thursday night when doctors inserted a breathing tube into his throat to help him recover from respiratory crises brought on by Parkinson's disease and the flu.
Just after Archbishop Leonardo Sandri read prayers at St. Peter's, aides to the pope drew back curtains at the window of his tenth floor suite at Gemelli Polyclinic hospital. Another aide wheeled up the disabled 84-year old pontiff, who blessed the crowd. A Vatican photographer recorded the moment.
The pope looked alert. At one point, he put his hand to his neck as if adjusting his collar or pinpointing the area of his throat cut open to permit insertion of the tube to aid breathing. It was not clear whether the tube was in at the time of the pope's appearance.
Archbishop Sandri made a statement on the pope's behalf. "Dear brothers and sisters, once again I address you from the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic," the statement said. "I thank you with affection and feel you all spiritually near. I think of you gathered in St. Peter's Square, alone and in groups that have come, and to all those from every part of the world who are interested in me. I ask you to continue to accompany me, above all with your prayers."
Sandri then mentioned he pope's personal motto, Totus Tuus, which translates as "completely yours," and means that the pope dedicates his life to the Virgin Mary. In the message, John Paul II said the pre-Easter period of Lent "helps us to better understand the value of suffering that, in one way or another, touches us all."
After Sandri delivered a blessing, many in the crowd of a few thousand applauded.
The pope's inability to speak has raised not only the issue of whether he can carry out pastoral duties but also of whether he can govern the Church in his role as supreme Catholic leader. The pope has had difficulty speaking for several months and some commentators began to question how long he could reign if doubts surface about decisions taken in his name.
Church officials note that the pope can still write and therefore communicate and as long as he is lucid, he can govern through close collaborators who know his mind. "For important decisions regarding serious problems and aspects of the Church, which have to be taken daily, it is important for him to express himself. Even if he cannot speak he can write," said Cardinal Javier Lozano Jose Barragan. Italian newspapers quoted several prelates who said the pope would not resign.
Key officials close to the pope include Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican Secretary of State and its chief day-to-day administrator, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the chief guardian of Church dogma and Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the popes deputy Bishop of Rome. Sandri is a frequent verbal stand-in. The pope frequently communicates to the Vatican hierarchy and visitors through Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, a long time friend, personal secretary and fellow Pole. Dziwisz is the only Church official at the pope's side constantly during his current convalescence.
Dziwisz role as papal channel to the outside world was on display Saturday when Pier Ferdinando Casini, the president of Italy's parliament, paid a visit to Gemelli hospital. He did not see the pope, but spoke with Dziwisz and then reported that he was breathing and that there was "an atmosphere of serenity."
The pope normally delivers the Angelus even when he is outside Vatican City on his once-frequent trips. On May 17, 1981, four days after Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca shot him in St. Peter's Square, the pope whispered a blessing by radio from the hospital. In 1992, after undergoing surgery to remove a tumor, he delivered a recorded version. Earlier this month, he sat at his Gemelli room window and gave a blessing after an aide read the Angelus.
This is far from the first time that health problems have driven a pope from view. Pope Leo XIII, who died in 1903 at the age of 92, rarely appeared in public during the last two years of his reign, when he was by all accounts doddering. Pius XII, who died in 1958, was reclusive for much of the last three years of his papacy and communicated with the outside world almost solely through a chief assistant.
But none of these popes operated under the media glare attracted by and, when he was healthy, encouraged by John Paul II. The media machine demands signs of life every day. It seems that someone who doesn't speak doesn't exist, said Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant'Egidio Community, a Catholic lay organization.
