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CNN Live Today
Pope's Health
Aired October 02, 2003 - 10:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The Vatican is downplaying health concerns over Pope John Paul II, who's been looking rather frail in recent months. The pontiff's closest aide addressed those growing concerns in a rare statement earlier today as the pope met the with the president of Lithuania.
CNN's Vatican analyst was one of only two reporters to get inside and attend that meeting. Delia Gallagher joins us now live from Rome.
Delia, tell us all about it.
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, that's right, I was with the pope this morning. I spoke briefly to him and to his personal secretary, who is the man closest to him and knows the real state of his health, and he quelled fears that the pope was in a bad way, which was reported earlier in the week, reportedly by Cardinal Ratsinger (ph). The personal secretary said see for yourself, and I did see for myself.
Leon, the pope looks good.
One of the things you don't get when you watch the pope on television is up close just how mentally alert this man is. He is able to concentrate. He fixes his gaze right on you. He's able to respond and follow conversations. The problem is that he's not able to move physically very easily. So they're hoping it happens quite slowly (ph). And I would also say that his attention span, in terms of length, has certainly diminished, by tiredness and by his disease, but if I have to say, depth-wise, in terms of power of concentration and ability to really focus, this pope is still very alert.
HARRIS: Well, what can you tell us then about his physical state that we haven't seen before? Tell us something you were able to gain from looking at him up close that we can't tell from watching a television monitor. For instance, I saw some video of him just two days ago on network broadcast, where he was drooling. Did you notice anything like that at all?
GALLAGHER: Yes. Well, of course, the drooling has always been a physical symptom of his inability to control the muscles in his face, and he does not have much control over his muscles, and so you'll notice he tilts his head to the side.
But let me tell you something, this morning when the photographers came in for a five-minute photo op, and the pope had his head very much to the side. As soon as he saw those photographers, he brightened right up, lifted his head up as much as possible, because he knew that they were doing a five-minute photo op, so he stayed right there with him until they finished. So this is a man who still is very aware of what's happening around him, and he's still a showman, as we saw.
HARRIS: Well, did his aides tell you anything at all about plans to further hone back his schedule some, to at least try to preserve whatever vitality that he does have? And do they hint at all about anything being done behind the scenes to prepare for a retirement of this pope?
GALLAGHER: Well, I'll address the second point first. No retirement, absolutely, in view. This is a pope who said himself, how do you retire from fatherhood? He considers himself a father of the Catholic Church. He has no plans for retiring. On the contrary, he has plans to keep going. On Tuesday, he'll be going down to the south of Italy. He is continuing his very heavy public schedule here -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right. As I understand it, though, parts of his schedule here included time to give him a pat on the head? Tell us about that, is that true?
GALLAGHER: Well, of course, you know, you always get to go up and say hello, and I said hello and I said, wished him well and I said (SPEAKING IN ITALIAN) in Italian, which means "have courage," and he kind of said thanks, and kind of gave me a little look like this with his eye and patted my head.
HARRIS: Well, good for you. Quite a treat for you, I bet. Thank you, Delia. always good to see you. Delia Gallagher.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 2, 2003 - 10:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The Vatican is downplaying health concerns over Pope John Paul II, who's been looking rather frail in recent months. The pontiff's closest aide addressed those growing concerns in a rare statement earlier today as the pope met the with the president of Lithuania.
CNN's Vatican analyst was one of only two reporters to get inside and attend that meeting. Delia Gallagher joins us now live from Rome.
Delia, tell us all about it.
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, that's right, I was with the pope this morning. I spoke briefly to him and to his personal secretary, who is the man closest to him and knows the real state of his health, and he quelled fears that the pope was in a bad way, which was reported earlier in the week, reportedly by Cardinal Ratsinger (ph). The personal secretary said see for yourself, and I did see for myself.
Leon, the pope looks good.
One of the things you don't get when you watch the pope on television is up close just how mentally alert this man is. He is able to concentrate. He fixes his gaze right on you. He's able to respond and follow conversations. The problem is that he's not able to move physically very easily. So they're hoping it happens quite slowly (ph). And I would also say that his attention span, in terms of length, has certainly diminished, by tiredness and by his disease, but if I have to say, depth-wise, in terms of power of concentration and ability to really focus, this pope is still very alert.
HARRIS: Well, what can you tell us then about his physical state that we haven't seen before? Tell us something you were able to gain from looking at him up close that we can't tell from watching a television monitor. For instance, I saw some video of him just two days ago on network broadcast, where he was drooling. Did you notice anything like that at all?
GALLAGHER: Yes. Well, of course, the drooling has always been a physical symptom of his inability to control the muscles in his face, and he does not have much control over his muscles, and so you'll notice he tilts his head to the side.
But let me tell you something, this morning when the photographers came in for a five-minute photo op, and the pope had his head very much to the side. As soon as he saw those photographers, he brightened right up, lifted his head up as much as possible, because he knew that they were doing a five-minute photo op, so he stayed right there with him until they finished. So this is a man who still is very aware of what's happening around him, and he's still a showman, as we saw.
HARRIS: Well, did his aides tell you anything at all about plans to further hone back his schedule some, to at least try to preserve whatever vitality that he does have? And do they hint at all about anything being done behind the scenes to prepare for a retirement of this pope?
GALLAGHER: Well, I'll address the second point first. No retirement, absolutely, in view. This is a pope who said himself, how do you retire from fatherhood? He considers himself a father of the Catholic Church. He has no plans for retiring. On the contrary, he has plans to keep going. On Tuesday, he'll be going down to the south of Italy. He is continuing his very heavy public schedule here -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right. As I understand it, though, parts of his schedule here included time to give him a pat on the head? Tell us about that, is that true?
GALLAGHER: Well, of course, you know, you always get to go up and say hello, and I said hello and I said, wished him well and I said (SPEAKING IN ITALIAN) in Italian, which means "have courage," and he kind of said thanks, and kind of gave me a little look like this with his eye and patted my head.
HARRIS: Well, good for you. Quite a treat for you, I bet. Thank you, Delia. always good to see you. Delia Gallagher.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
