The arthritic-knee pain that unexpectedly immobilized Pope John Paul during an outdoor mass has reignited debate on whether the 81-year-old pontiff should resign.
Those who see the Pope regularly are no longer shielding the world from the fact that his physical health is now deteriorating more quickly, although they make clear his mental acuity is unimpaired.
"You run a church with a mind and not with a leg," one Vatican-based archbishop, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.
With the Pope, however, it is the cumulative catalogue of his body's failings that concern many in the church hierarchy. Eight years ago he was hiking and skiing. Today he suffers visibly from Parkinson's disease, the frailties of age, the aftereffects of a fall in his apartment and an assassin's bullet -- and now his knee.
Yesterday, an article by Vittorio Messoria, a popular Italian writer on the Roman Catholic Church, appeared in Italy's leading daily Corriere della Sera, asking whether the church can continue to live in the climate of uncertainty created by the Pope's failing health.
"There is already a certain closure to his papacy. There's not going to be a lot of innovation remaining. I don't think it would cause the church any problems if he went now," said Professor Dennis Doyle, a Catholic theologian at Ohio's University of Dayton.
Fewer than a handful of the 261 popes preceding John Paul have resigned. The last one to do so voluntarily was Celestine V in 1294. Gregory XII reluctantly stepped down in 1415 to end the Great Western Schism (otherwise there would have been two popes). No one has given up the papacy since.
Popes are averse to resignation for the same reason kings and queens are: they make spiritual commitments to stay on the job for life.
On Sunday -- known as Palm Sunday in the Christian church, marking Jesus's triumphant entry into Jerusalem with crowds throwing palm leaves in his path -- the Pope surprised thousands gathered in the Vatican's St. Peter's Square by letting a cardinal celebrate the Eucharist.
The Pope read his homily and said several prayers during the three-hour service. Then, for the first time in his 23-year papacy, he moved to one side of the alter and sat down, sparing himself a long period of standing. After the Palm Sunday service, a Vatican official said that doctors had been treating the Pope's knee for some time and have said it is improving. They have also been adamant that the Pope cut back on his schedule, something he, just as adamantly, has refused to do.
Yesterday, papal aides wheeled him on a mobile platform to a Vatican audience room. He has used the vehicle before in the vast space of St. Peter's Basilica.
The Pope's latest health problem raised concerns for the first time in public that he might not be fit enough to come to Toronto in July for the Roman Catholic Church's World Youth Day.
"We are concerned about his health. . . . We are praying for him," said Rev. Thomas Rosica, the event's chief executive officer.
In answer to a question, Father Rosica said WYD will still be held if the Pope is not well enough to attend. He also said the Pope told him several times that he planned on being in Toronto in July, a message he repeated in his homily.