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American Morning
Pope's Health
Aired October 02, 2003 - 08:31 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We've been tracking the story in the health of the pope right now. Pope John Paul II earlier held an audience with the president of Lithuania. That meeting coming now among questions regarding his health, the debilitating effects right now of Parkinson's Diseases at the age of 83. A number of speeches recently had to be finished by others other than the pope because of his declining health.
CNN Vatican analyst Delia Gallagher, one of two journalists who attended that meeting earlier today, which offered, as we say, an up- close view of the ailing pope. She is live from Rome to talk about. How was his condition? What did you notice the other day, Delia?
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Well, Bill, the question that everyone wants to know is, is this pope really in a bad way as Cardinal Ratsinger (ph) reported earlier in the week. And I have to say, after seeing him this morning, the answer is absolutely not. On the contrary, he looked physically very comfortable, and more importantly, mentally alert. He is able to follow the conversations, he has great powers of concentration, and he responds.
Interestingly, he's also still a showman, which shows that he is mentally alert. When the cameras came in for a five minute photo opportunity in the beginning, the pope lifted his head, stared straight ahead at the cameras, and let them have their five minutes of snapping away.
Now I also talked to the pope's private secretary this morning, who is the man closest to the pope, and he said to me, you journalists are making a flop out of nothing. He Cardinal Ratsinger was here yesterday to apologize to the pope, to say his comments were taken out of context, that he was asked by a passerby, is the pope in a bad way? And the cardinal claims to have responded, if the pope is in a bad way, then we should pray for him. So the situation, as far as the Vatican, is the pope is good.
I saw it myself this myself, Bill. He looks fairly strong, still has some weakness physically, but mentally is alert.
HEMMER: Two questions here, Delia, first of all, "Time" magazine did a piece this week in its latest addition, talking about a lame duck pope. How much decisionmaking power does he have right now? And the other question, and I know you're not a doctor, but what does the Vatican say that explains these bouts of strengths and weaknesses that we've seen for many months running now?
GALLAGHER: Right. Well, as far as being a lame duck pope this pope, of course, has been 25 years as pope, so the Vatican and his advisers know very well at this stage what it is that he wants. So in terms of day-to-day administrative duties, he is probably not as involved as he was previously.
On the other hand, as I saw this morning, he is very well able to concentrate and follow a conversation. So when he does want to say something, he makes his voice heard.
And as far as whether -- sorry, Bill, what was the second question?
HEMMER: I forget it myself actually. The decisionmaking process was the first one. And the second one was, what explains the bouts of strengths and weaknesses that we've been witnessing?
GALLAGHER: Yes. Well, that's partially explained by a general, a sense of tiredness. He is 83 years old. And like anybody, he has his good days and bad days. They was some questions that they have lowered his medication, taken him off some of the medication during the summer to try and release some of those toxins in the body and then bring him back up again so that the medication would be efficient, and that has worked to some degree.
But it's day to day here, Bill. We have to watch him very closely, because on top of Parkinson's and all of his other ailments, he's also tired. He keeps up a very heavy public schedule.
HEMMER: Thanks, Delia. Delia Gallagher there in Vatican City. Thanks for being patient with us, too.
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 - 08:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We've been tracking the story in the health of the pope right now. Pope John Paul II earlier held an audience with the president of Lithuania. That meeting coming now among questions regarding his health, the debilitating effects right now of Parkinson's Diseases at the age of 83. A number of speeches recently had to be finished by others other than the pope because of his declining health.
CNN Vatican analyst Delia Gallagher, one of two journalists who attended that meeting earlier today, which offered, as we say, an up- close view of the ailing pope. She is live from Rome to talk about. How was his condition? What did you notice the other day, Delia?
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Well, Bill, the question that everyone wants to know is, is this pope really in a bad way as Cardinal Ratsinger (ph) reported earlier in the week. And I have to say, after seeing him this morning, the answer is absolutely not. On the contrary, he looked physically very comfortable, and more importantly, mentally alert. He is able to follow the conversations, he has great powers of concentration, and he responds.
Interestingly, he's also still a showman, which shows that he is mentally alert. When the cameras came in for a five minute photo opportunity in the beginning, the pope lifted his head, stared straight ahead at the cameras, and let them have their five minutes of snapping away.
Now I also talked to the pope's private secretary this morning, who is the man closest to the pope, and he said to me, you journalists are making a flop out of nothing. He Cardinal Ratsinger was here yesterday to apologize to the pope, to say his comments were taken out of context, that he was asked by a passerby, is the pope in a bad way? And the cardinal claims to have responded, if the pope is in a bad way, then we should pray for him. So the situation, as far as the Vatican, is the pope is good.
I saw it myself this myself, Bill. He looks fairly strong, still has some weakness physically, but mentally is alert.
HEMMER: Two questions here, Delia, first of all, "Time" magazine did a piece this week in its latest addition, talking about a lame duck pope. How much decisionmaking power does he have right now? And the other question, and I know you're not a doctor, but what does the Vatican say that explains these bouts of strengths and weaknesses that we've seen for many months running now?
GALLAGHER: Right. Well, as far as being a lame duck pope this pope, of course, has been 25 years as pope, so the Vatican and his advisers know very well at this stage what it is that he wants. So in terms of day-to-day administrative duties, he is probably not as involved as he was previously.
On the other hand, as I saw this morning, he is very well able to concentrate and follow a conversation. So when he does want to say something, he makes his voice heard.
And as far as whether -- sorry, Bill, what was the second question?
HEMMER: I forget it myself actually. The decisionmaking process was the first one. And the second one was, what explains the bouts of strengths and weaknesses that we've been witnessing?
GALLAGHER: Yes. Well, that's partially explained by a general, a sense of tiredness. He is 83 years old. And like anybody, he has his good days and bad days. They was some questions that they have lowered his medication, taken him off some of the medication during the summer to try and release some of those toxins in the body and then bring him back up again so that the medication would be efficient, and that has worked to some degree.
But it's day to day here, Bill. We have to watch him very closely, because on top of Parkinson's and all of his other ailments, he's also tired. He keeps up a very heavy public schedule.
HEMMER: Thanks, Delia. Delia Gallagher there in Vatican City. Thanks for being patient with us, too.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
