Rome, Italy - The Vatican indicated for the first time yesterday that Pope John Paul was no longer actively running the Catholic Church. In a statement announcing that the ailing pontiff was now being fed through a tube in his nose, his spokesman said merely that the pontiff was "following" the church's activities.
The latest disclosure about the Pope's treatment came shortly after he had again tried and failed to speak in public. His spokesman, Joaquín Navarro Valls, made clear that the leader of the world's biggest Christian denomination is, for the moment at least, an invalid who spends "many hours" in an armchair.
He said the Pope celebrated mass in his private chapel, but he did not indicate how this was possible. The pontiff has been heard to say only four words since undergoing an operation in February for the insertion of a tube in his windpipe.
Dr Navarro Valls added that the Pope was "in working contact with his aides, directly following the activities of the Holy See and the life of the church". But his public audiences have been suspended.
The Pope's most recent appearances have shown that he has lost weight rapidly since leaving hospital on March 13. He suffers from Parkinson's disease, which has gradually led to a loss of muscle control in his throat, inhibiting his ability to swallow.
Yesterday's health bulletin, the first for three weeks, said the tube was intended to "improve the Pope's intake of calories and favour an effective recovery of [his] strength". Medical experts said it would be uncomfortable and could only be a short-term solution.
Fears for his recovery grew over Easter after the Vatican's television service put out pictures of him taken from behind, with his face and the front of his body concealed. On Easter Sunday, the Pope blessed pilgrims in St Peter's Square, but failed to speak. He was due to appear the day after, but did not.
Yesterday he was scheduled to hold a public audience. Instead, he was wheeled to the window of his apartment. He raised his hand in a blessing and made the sign of the cross as a priest read greetings and prayers. But a microphone was whisked away after he again tried unsuccessfully to speak, for the second time in a week.
Dr Barbara Paris, director of geriatrics at Maimonides Medical Centre in New York, said the nasogastric tube may be the first step towards having a more permanent feeding tube inserted directly into his stomach, bypassing the throat.