The Washington Post
YEREVAN, Armenia – In a sign of his growing frailty, Pope John Paul II broke off a speech after arriving Tuesday in this tiny, mountainous country to pay tribute to its ancient Christian church.
Slumped in an ornate chair and breathing heavily, the 81-year-old pontiff allowed a priest to finish his remarks in the 521-year-old Apostolic Cathedral just outside the capital, Yerevan. At one point, he seemed exhausted and barely able to hold a copy of his text in his shaking hands.
The incident raised fresh questions about how long the pope, who suffers from a Parkinson’s-like ailment, can continue his beloved foreign trips, on which he strives to heal religious divisions, promote democracy and bolster peace.
This trip has taken him to Kazakhstan and now Armenia over four days, and it has drawn particular attention because of his comments on the crisis brought on by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.
Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the pope had planned to deliver only part of his speech in English, so that an interpreter could read his remarks in Armenian. But he did not say if the pope had stopped at the expected point, or prematurely.
In any case, it was clear the pope was struggling to make it through the afternoon prayer visit, which followed two speeches and a five-hour flight Tuesday morning from Kazakhstan – typical of his demanding schedule on foreign trips.
After a rest, the pontiff seemed in better shape, walking about 50 yards at one point and waving his cane in the air.
The pope has hit hard on his familiar themes of reconciliation between people of different faiths. But it is his guidance on how the world should respond to the terrorist attacks that most interests many who are turning out to see him.
John Paul has called urgently for peace, repeating that message again Tuesday morning as he left Kazakhstan. At the same time, he believes that force can be justified as a last resort to protect a society from a dire threat, according to his spokesman, who laid out the Vatican’s position Monday.
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