Weary Pope abandons Vatican trips
Trying to conserve his strength, a feeble Pope John Paul today abandoned yet another tradition because of his health, staying at his summer retreat to deliver his general audience rather than travelling back to the Vatican.
The weekly audience, held in the courtyard of his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, a lakeside town southeast of Rome, was one of his shortest ever.
While many public audiences last well over an hour, this was barely 30 minutes - another sign that the 82-year-old pontiff can no longer keep his previously gruelling pace.
‘‘I am pleased to be back again among you in Castel Gandolfo, where, God willing, I will spend the summer like other years,’’ the pope said.
The pope, bowing to doctors who have been insisting for years that he slow down, has been steadily giving up other traditions, including walking in a Good Friday procession at the Colosseum and leading Palm Sunday Mass in St Peter’s Square.
In past summers, the pope commuted by helicopter to keep his appointment with pilgrims at the Vatican. But symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, including difficulty walking and a hand tremor, make it difficult for the pope to get around.
The pope faces a test of his stamina later this month, with a 12 day trip to Canada, Guatemala and Mexico.
Today, John Paul sat slumped in his chair for most of the audience. His speech was often slurred and difficult to understand.
But his spirits seemed buoyed by the more informal setting of the palace courtyard, jammed with a few thousand pilgrims.
John Paul has brushed off suggestions that he could retire because of health problems.
