Vinci: 'No cause for alarm,' Vatican says
 |  Alessio Vinci, CNN's Rome bureau chief |
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|  VIDEO |
 Pope John Paul II suffers from a number of chronic ailments.
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ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Pope John Paul II was taken to the hospital late Tuesday with an acute respiratory infection, the Vatican told CNN. Anchor Wolf Blitzer spoke to Rome bureau chief Alessio Vinci about the Pope's condition.
BLITZER: What can you tell you about the condition of the pontiff?
VINCI: CNN has just confirmed that Pope John Paul II, who is suffering from a bout of flu, has been taken to the Gemelli Hospital within the last few hours. We have got confirmation from the Vatican press office.
Father Chiro Bamadattimi at that office is telling us that there is no cause for alarm, that this is a precautionary measure, but nevertheless Pope John Paul II has at this time been taken to the Gemelli Hospital for further medical tests.
The pope has been suffering for the last few days of a what the Vatican has described as a mild influenza.
BLITZER: When we saw that picture of him and heard his voice on Sunday, I believe that was the last time we saw and heard him. He's been very frail in recent months and years, as you well know. You cover him full time. He seemed in pretty bad shape Sunday, but give me your impression.
VINCI: Well, my impression has been that in recent months the pope, although he is ailing and suffers from a series of ailments, including Parkinson's disease, he has been looking and sounding quite remarkably well considering his age and all his ailments.
That said, last Sunday, which was the last time that we saw the pope publicly, he did speak with a hoarse voice, but his spirit looked extremely high. It was clear that his condition was something out of the extraordinary, if you want.
His voice was very hoarse, but again, his spirit looked very up, even joking at some point when releasing two doves out of his office. ... So the only problem seemed to be that he only had this flu, which is what the Vatican has been telling us for the last few days.
Now, of course, it is quite an extraordinary precaution, to take the pope to the Gemelli Hospital. He has been going there regularly for checks, for medical checks. But the last time he's been admitted -- quote, unquote -- "urgently" was when he had to go through surgery.
So one could speculate, if you want, at this time that this may be just a mild flu, but of course a mild flu in an 84-year-old pontiff is obviously something that could, you know, perhaps hide some complications, perhaps hide something more serious.
Therefore, the decision has been taken probably by the physicians assisting the pontiff that he had to be taken to the hospital perhaps for further checks.
BLITZER: Do we know what time of the evening the pope was taken to the hospital?
VINCI: No, we don't, really.
This information came to us first, was reported by the Italian news agencies, without any specific source, if you want. We were able to confirm it directly with one of the officials at the press office within the last few minutes. And so far, he did not have the specifics of when exactly the pope was admitted, but possibly within the last few hours for sure.
BLITZER: If the pope has to spend an extended stay in the hospital right now for some treatment, who in effect takes over on a day-to-day basis?
VINCI: Well, you know, in the last few years he's pretty much handed over the day-to-day operation of the running of the Catholic Church to his cardinals, to the various offices running the Catholic Church. Although he has the last say on just about that anything within the Vatican and in the Catholic Church, the day-to-day operations, if you want, of the church is left to cardinals and to the various congregations that form the Roman Curia.
So it is quite easy to speculate here one more time that the operations of the Vatican, the day-to-day operations of the Vatican, will not suffer particularly from the fact that the pope is in a hospital, rather than in his study at the Vatican. ...
VINCI: As far as I can remember, this is the first time that the pope has been taken to the hospital because of what the Vatican has described as mild symptoms of the flu. So, perhaps there's something more serious behind all this. At this time, we can only speculate.
Vatican officials are playing down this hospitalization, saying it is just a precautionary measure. Nevertheless, we do know that the pope has been feeling quite ill in the last few days. We last saw him on Sunday coming out of the window of his private study in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.
The pope did speak with a hoarse voice, but he did look in good spirit.
And, as a matter of fact, in the last few weeks and months, he's been looking remarkably well, considering the fact that the pope is old, suffers from a series of ailments, as I said, and certainly looks much better, if you want, than, let's say, in 2003, after two very long trips he took to Croatia and Slovakia.
BLITZER: Alessio, I want you to hold on for a second, because I want to play for our viewers what the pope said this past Sunday, when he was frail, when he was already suffering from the flu, and he had this very raspy, hoarse voice.
[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]
BLITZER: The pope was clearly applauded by those who had gathered. Alessio, you've heard his voice many times. As you point out, it was hoarse. It sounded a lot worse than in the past.
VINCI: It certainly does, certainly hoarse.
And, again, I must point out, however, Wolf, that while his voice sounded as hoarse as our viewers could tell, what you also have to look is at his body language.
And I'm not sure if our tape showed this, but at some point the pope was flanked by two young 8-year-old kids. And they all released two doves, a sign of peace, if you want. January is the month that the Vatican sets aside for peace around the world.
And these two doves -- actually, one of them refused to fly away and flew back into the Vatican study of the pope. And the pope almost kicked one out, joking with the kids.
So he was clearly aware and well aware and understanding of what was going on around him.
And although he's no longer able to walk on his own -- he needs the assistance of several people to move from one place to the other -- in this particular video set aside his voice. The rest of his body looked responsive, if you want.
So, it didn't look like he was worse than in previous times, in previous occasions. Again, for people who don't watch him regularly, on a weekly basis, seeing him like that sounds a lot worse than perhaps for us who actually look at him and watch him and follow him on a regular basis.
So, despite his voice, everything else, considering of course his age and his ailments, the pope looks better, if you want, than he has looked in the past.
BLITZER: Is the Vatican generally pretty up front, pretty open, with details of the pope's health?
VINCI: No, of course not.
As a matter of fact, it's been very difficult to get any kind of information regarding the kind of medications, for example, that the pope is taking to cure his Parkinson's disease.
As a matter of fact, the Vatican has never officially admitted that the pope suffers from Parkinson's disease. Some Vatican officials and some cardinals privately have gone as far as saying that he suffers from the complications from an illness related to Parkinson's.
But no Vatican official has ever admitted openly that the pope does suffer from, among other things, the Parkinson's disease.
So the Vatican has never really been very open in discussing the pope's health, although of course in recent years they could no longer ignore the fact that his hand was shaking, that his body obviously was no longer responding to his mind, if you want.
The pope, with all the people that have met him in private, unanimously, everybody is saying that the pope appears always extremely aware of what is going on around him, understands exactly what is going on, that perhaps his body is not able to follow his mind.
