VATICAN CITY -Pope John Paul II underwent a successful operation to insert a tube in his throat to relieve his breathing problems hours after he was rushed back to the hospital yesterday for the second time in a month with flu-like symptoms of fever and congestion, the Vatican said.
Spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the tracheotomy lasted 30 minutes and the outcome was positive. The pope had approved the procedure, which the Vatican characterized as elective.
The frail, 84-year-old pontiff, who was taken to the hospital shortly before 11 a.m. in an ambulance, will be spending the night in the hospital, Navarro-Valls said.
But the tracheotomy may require a longer hospital stay and have serious consequences for the pope's abilities to carry out his duties since he will not be able to speak while the breathing tube is in his throat.
Before the tracheotomy, outside medical experts had said John Paul may have pneumonia. But Navarro-Valls' statement made no reference to pneumonia, saying the pope suffered a narrowing of his larynx.
The pope's sudden turn for the worse alarmed the faithful from Nigeria to the Philippines to St. Peter's Square and raised more doubts about his ability to carry on.
The news spread quickly, with the pope's illness flashed on television just as news shows were ending in the Philippines. Church officials relayed a prayer request to the faithful by text message on their cell phones.
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The Associated Press
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Pope John Paul II looks at white doves that were freed at the end of the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's square, at the Vatican Jan. 30. Italian news agencies ANSA and Apcom said yesterday that the doctors were considering performing a tracheotomy, a proced
