The surgeon who operated on Pope John Paul in 1994 yesterday denied saying the Pontiff was suffering from Parkinson's disease.
Italian orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Gianfranco Fineschi, said he was misquoted by the weekly magazine Oggi.
The magazine quoted him as saying that the trembling in the Pope's hand was due to Parkinson's and that the medicines he was taking for the disease were affecting his facial muscles and his walk.
"I feel a little betrayed," he later told the Italian news agency ANSA. "I never said the Pope had Parkinson's disease, and I don't know whether he does. I am an orthopaedic specialist. Parkinson's is not my area of competence."