Pope Blesses Easter Faithful But is Unable to Speak

There was a long, expectant silence after the microphone was rolled into place so he could bless the crowd gathered in St Peter's Square.

But the seven Latin words required proved too many for the man once known as "the great communicator", and he eventually resigned himself to making the sign of the cross with an unsteady hand.

Tens of thousands of worshippers gathered at the Vatican yesterday bore witness to the fact that Pope John Paul can no longer speak. It is now two weeks since he managed to do so in public, on the day he last left hospital.

Easter Sunday traditionally sees the pontiff officiating at an open-air mass in front of St Peter's basilica and then delivering his message "Urbi et Orbi" (To the city and the world). No one had expected Pope John Paul, who has had a tube in his windpipe since the end of last month, to manage that. The task was delegated to his secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

The Pope was wheeled to the window of his apartment looking out over St Peter's Square shortly before the end of the service. He looked to be in immense distress, opening and shutting his mouth, grimacing with frustration or pain, and several times raising one or both hands to his head.

He followed the reading of his Urbi et Orbi message on a typescript that was put in front of him. Then a brisk wind got up, curling the sheets in his hand and reviving doubts about the wisdom of his being exposed to the changeable spring weather so soon after an intrusive operation.

When the Pope was expected to bless the crowd, he rolled his head. He gasped and gulped, trying to summon up the breath he needed. But, in the end, the only sounds to emerge from the leader of the world's one billion Roman Catholics on the holiest day in the Christian year were a wheeze and a brief, metallic croak. A priest appeared at his side, evidently suggesting it was time to go back inside. He was dismissed with an imperious gesture. But a few seconds later unseen hands drew back the Pope's chair and the curtains were drawn.

The episode brought tears to the eyes of many. But none could be found who thought that the Pope's evident disability meant he should step aside.

"His presence is enough. Someone else can speak for him," said Sybil Watson from Sheffield, who was in Rome for her 79th birthday.

"Even if he can't talk, he's still the pope," said Giancarlo Bodriti from Cardinal Sodano's home town of Asti in northern Italy. "You can't just say he's not the pope," said Jeanne Cayemberg from Norway, Michigan. You can't just take him away."