Pope suffers

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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