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CNN Live Today
Pope Misses Audience
Aired September 24, 2003 - 11:31 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: Pope John Paul II missed part of his routine today, conducting his weekly Wednesday audience by videotape. Now those of you who have listened to the pope throughout the years could probably detect a bit of slurring of his speech in this delivery here. The pope is said to have been suffering from a touch of intestinal flu. He is now at his summer retreat, which is outside of Rome. As we said, this tape, which does show there is some apparent deterioration in the pope's health. He has missed his general Wednesday audiences very few times during his 25 year papacy.
The frail pontiff faces an ambitious schedule in October. Let's talk about this and his health with our CNN Vatican analyst, Deila Gallagher. She is in Rome.
Delia, good to see you again, as always.
We got to, first of all, get the latest word right now on the pope's condition, because we have seen a number of times now in the past few weeks where he has either had to have someone else deliver his remarks or now do it by video like this. There's got to be growing concern there in the Vatican.
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Well, that's right, Leon. But, you know, that's one of the disadvantages of being such a visible pope that you can't even take a sick day and everybody begins to speculate. And there was much speculation last night when we received the news that he'd be canceling this appearance, because it's such a rare thing for the pope to do. He has these weekly audiences every week with the thousands of pilgrims who come. It's very important to him to be there.
So the question was, is there something more to what they're telling us? Are these intestinal difficulties hiding something even bigger?
Now, that speculation was quelled slightly this morning when we saw the videotape, the satellite that was live from his summer residence. So we were able to see that, you know, he's still in a state of decline, no doubt, but he's still present and he's still active.
HARRIS: We just want to apologize for folks who are listening right now if you can detect a little bit of popping noise over Delia's microphone. We're going to try to get that fixed while we continue our discussion here, Delia.
But even as you say, you know, that this appearance on videotape may have assuaged some fears or some concerns, there's still got to be some kind of talk going on behind the scenes about what to do next and whether or not to scale back the pope's schedule. The month of October, he's got quite a bit going on.
GALLAGHER: Yes, well, they've always been talking about scaling back. It's considered that the pope himself who doesn't want to scale back. He continues to take the papal trips, and he continues to meet every day with people and give his speeches. So that's very much the problem. What's different now, we see he's taking the advice of his doctor. He is renouncing some of these meetings with a very important thing today that he didn't come down from his summer residence, because it's something that he really likes to do.
So what we're looking for now is to see whether this will be a pattern. We saw in Slovakia that he didn't finish some of his speeches. Now he's canceled his first public appearance. So there might be signs, it's still too early to say, but there might be signs that this will become a pattern. It's going to be something that we'll need to watch in the next few weeks.
And as you say, October is a very big month. He's due back from his summer residence on Friday. The papal spokesman, Navarro Gal (ph), says it's all on track, and we're going to keep the same schedule. October will be a big month and a big test for this pope.
HARRIS: October 16th, I understand, is the date that marks his 25th anniversary as pope. It will be a very interesting to see how his schedule or his life changes. We'll have to leave it there for now.
Thank you, Delia. Delia Gallagher reporting live for us from Rome. Take.
GALLAGHER: Thank you, Leon.
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 September 24, 2003 - 11:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Pope John Paul II missed part of his routine today, conducting his weekly Wednesday audience by videotape. Now those of you who have listened to the pope throughout the years could probably detect a bit of slurring of his speech in this delivery here. The pope is said to have been suffering from a touch of intestinal flu. He is now at his summer retreat, which is outside of Rome. As we said, this tape, which does show there is some apparent deterioration in the pope's health. He has missed his general Wednesday audiences very few times during his 25 year papacy.
The frail pontiff faces an ambitious schedule in October. Let's talk about this and his health with our CNN Vatican analyst, Deila Gallagher. She is in Rome.
Delia, good to see you again, as always.
We got to, first of all, get the latest word right now on the pope's condition, because we have seen a number of times now in the past few weeks where he has either had to have someone else deliver his remarks or now do it by video like this. There's got to be growing concern there in the Vatican.
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Well, that's right, Leon. But, you know, that's one of the disadvantages of being such a visible pope that you can't even take a sick day and everybody begins to speculate. And there was much speculation last night when we received the news that he'd be canceling this appearance, because it's such a rare thing for the pope to do. He has these weekly audiences every week with the thousands of pilgrims who come. It's very important to him to be there.
So the question was, is there something more to what they're telling us? Are these intestinal difficulties hiding something even bigger?
Now, that speculation was quelled slightly this morning when we saw the videotape, the satellite that was live from his summer residence. So we were able to see that, you know, he's still in a state of decline, no doubt, but he's still present and he's still active.
HARRIS: We just want to apologize for folks who are listening right now if you can detect a little bit of popping noise over Delia's microphone. We're going to try to get that fixed while we continue our discussion here, Delia.
But even as you say, you know, that this appearance on videotape may have assuaged some fears or some concerns, there's still got to be some kind of talk going on behind the scenes about what to do next and whether or not to scale back the pope's schedule. The month of October, he's got quite a bit going on.
GALLAGHER: Yes, well, they've always been talking about scaling back. It's considered that the pope himself who doesn't want to scale back. He continues to take the papal trips, and he continues to meet every day with people and give his speeches. So that's very much the problem. What's different now, we see he's taking the advice of his doctor. He is renouncing some of these meetings with a very important thing today that he didn't come down from his summer residence, because it's something that he really likes to do.
So what we're looking for now is to see whether this will be a pattern. We saw in Slovakia that he didn't finish some of his speeches. Now he's canceled his first public appearance. So there might be signs, it's still too early to say, but there might be signs that this will become a pattern. It's going to be something that we'll need to watch in the next few weeks.
And as you say, October is a very big month. He's due back from his summer residence on Friday. The papal spokesman, Navarro Gal (ph), says it's all on track, and we're going to keep the same schedule. October will be a big month and a big test for this pope.
HARRIS: October 16th, I understand, is the date that marks his 25th anniversary as pope. It will be a very interesting to see how his schedule or his life changes. We'll have to leave it there for now.
Thank you, Delia. Delia Gallagher reporting live for us from Rome. Take.
GALLAGHER: Thank you, Leon.
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