POPE John Paul II yesterday called on the faithful to pray for him as he prepared to enter hospital in Rome where he is to undergo surgery for the removal of his appendix.
Speaking at the conclusion of a beatification ceremony in the Vatican where among those beatified was Irishman Edmund Ignatius Rice, founder of the Christian Brothers, the Pope said: "Tonight, I will enter hospital to undergo an operation. In asking you to accompany me with your prayer, I send cordial greetings to those in hospitals and clinics, knowing I can count on their spiritual solidarity. May the caring Virgin Mary watch over us all."
The Pope (76) made the short journey across Rome yesterday evening to the Policlinico Gemelli Catholic Hospital where stringent security arrangements are in place.
More than 100 people including the hospital's permanent security staff as well as Vatican and Italian police are on duty in and around the hospital as well as on the 10th floor where the Pope will slay in a special suite.
The Pope will this morning undergo a series of routine check ups prior to an operation expected to be carried out tomorrow by a team led by Prof Francesco Crucitti. If there are no complications he should be out of hospital and back in the Vatican by the end of this week.
This will be the sixth time since being elected Pope in 1978 that he has attended the Gemelli hospital for treatment. He was taken there in May, 1981, after the assassination attempt on his life by Turkish gunman, Mehmet Ali Agca, while he has twice had surgery in the Gemelli in recent years - in 1992 he had a colon tumour removed and in 1994 he had bone transplant surgery after breaking his leg in a bathroom fall.
Last month, the Pope's personal physician, Dr Renato Buzzonetti, announced the operation, explaining that periodic inflammation of the appendix had provoked three bouts of intestinal fever this year. The first occurred at Christmas when the Pope was forced to cut short his traditional Christmas Day Urbi Et Orbi greeting when he was struck with a violent attack of vomiting.
Dr Buzzonetti's statement last month was also intended to deny widespread international media speculation that the Pope's medical problems are more serious than those normally linked to appendicitis. Commentators and independent medical experts alike have suggested that the Pope may be suffering either from Parkinson's Disease or from a recurrence of the cancer which prompted the removal of a colon tumour in 1992.
For much of the last year, the Pope has looked tired during his many public appearances. Furthermore, his movements are slow, his speech sometimes slurred, and he also has a tremor in his left hand. All of these characteristics could be linked to Parkinson's Disease.
Further speculation about Parkinson's Disease was fuelled by senior Vatican spokesman, Dr Joaquin Navarro Valls, who last month said that the Pope may be suffering from an "extrapyramidal" disorder. In layman's language, this means a disorder of the central nervous system which may manifest itself as Parkinson's Disease.