ROME, March 25 -- At the end of a week in which Vatican officials identified Pope John Paul II's declining health with the suffering of the dying Jesus, the pontiff's image was broadcast from his Vatican City residence Friday -- but only from the back -- as he watched a commemoration of the crucifixion.
Little more than his head and shoulders were visible. A television screen in front of him showed scenes from the Way of the Cross ceremony at the Colosseum in which clerics and lay people symbolically traced 14 stops along Jesus's journey to the tomb in Jerusalem.
People hold candles as Pope John Paul II is seen from the rear on a giant screen during the Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum.
(Massimo Sambucetti -- AP)
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Video: Pope John Paul II's absence was keenly felt by worried followers around the world as poor health forced him to miss major Holy Week events
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"It's very obvious that the pope is carrying a very heavy cross indeed, and he is giving a marvelous example of patience in the face of suffering, and of long suffering, which in itself is a virtue," John Foley, a senior U.S. official at the Holy See, told Vatican Radio on Friday. "So there's added significance in which the Holy Father is associated with Jesus in the carrying of the cross."
In a message read for him at the ceremony, the pope said, "I also offer my suffering, so that God's design is completed and his word walks among the people."
At the climax of the Colosseum procession, he was shown holding a large cross.
The unwillingness of the Vatican to show John Paul's face fed speculation about the gravity of the pope's physical condition. In recent days, officials have dropped their optimistic tone regarding his health.
At a traditional Holy Thursday mass, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, a papal confidant, told a congregation, "We want to thank him for the witness he continues to give us, through his example of serene abandonment to God, which he links to the mystery of the cross."
The phrase "serene abandonment" means putting one's self in God's hands at a difficult time, said Jeremy Driscoll, professor of theology at Rome's University of Sant' Anselmo. "We all know that the pope is sick and near death," he said.
John Paul suffers severe breathing problems. A tube in his throat helps him breathe but inhibits his speech. He has given two blessings this week, both silent.
There are no more photo opportunities with visiting dignitaries sitting by his bedside, as occurred earlier this month when he was recovering from a tracheostomy performed Feb. 24 in Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital. This year marked the first time in the pope's 26-year reign that he did not lead the Holy Week services that end on Easter Sunday.
"In the last stretch of his extraordinary journey, the pope speaks only with his body," wrote Marco Politi, a Vatican watcher for La Repubblica newspaper.
Vatican officials stopped issuing medical bulletins after the pope left Gemelli hospital on March 13. Alberto Melloni, a church historian, said that papal aides were now unwilling to suggest the pope would recover.
"The language shows that the Vatican is admitting to the pope's suffering. Instead of communicating through medical bulletins, they use spiritual language," Melloni said.
Nonetheless, the pope is "working in absolute lucidity," Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, one of John Paul's closest collaborators, said on Italian television Friday. "Given the physical trials John Paul II is going through, even this is a gift from God."
