Rome
Pope John Paul II was so ill at Easter that he could not speak. In obvious pain, he made several attempts to deliver an Easter Sunday blessing from a window in the Vatican, but he failed to make a sound. It was the first time in his 26 years as pope that he did not officiate at Mass on Easter, the most important Christian holiday. The 84-year-old pope has had trouble breathing and swallowing since a throat operation in late February. He might never be able to speak again, a neurologist told Rome’s La Repubblica, because his breath could remain too weak to move his vocal cords.
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