Pope's health fuels speculation about retirement

Ten years after an assassin's bullet almost killed him in 1981, Pope John Paul II laid it in the crown of a statue of the Virgin Mary. The meaning was clear: He was thanking her for sparing his life so that he could continue the work of the church.

So how does a man who believes he was appointed to his job by God and saved for it by the Virgin Mary face the idea of retirement as his health fails? Simple. He doesn't, and for many, that's a growing issue, though perhaps more outside the church than inside.

"Outside the Vatican, there's a lot of talk of retirement, of whether or not he's still healthy enough to perform in the job," said John L. Allen Jr., the author of "All the Pope's Men" and "Conclave," books about the inner workings of the Roman Catholic Church. He's also the Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter.

Inside the Vatican, Allen noted, "the issue is a nonstarter. He's been very clear on the matter."

Pope John Paul appears to be recovering from his most recent health scare, prompted by flu and a throat infection that made it hard for him to breath. He was rushed to Gemelli Hospital on Tuesday night, but the alarm quickly gave way to relief as Vatican officials reported he was gaining strength. Wednesday, Vatican officials said he was able to talk comfortably.

Friday, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls offered an upbeat assessment: "The state of health of the holy father has improved," he said. "Tests confirm that he has stabilized and his breathing is much better."

The pope is expected to deliver his usual Sunday homily from the window of his hospital room.

Still, there's much speculation about whether the 84-year-old pontiff - who has Parkinson's disease along with a medical history that includes the gunshot wound, stomach surgery and various broken bones - is strong enough to preside over the affairs of the world's largest religious organization.

No one in the Vatican is willing to be quoted by name advocating that the pope step aside, and reports discussing the subject are opaque as to who feels how. Some Vatican observers say the discussion isn't needed right now, with the pope on the mend.

But they still wonder if the subject won't have to be confronted soon. "We are talking about an 84-year-old man with advancing Parkinson's," said one Vatican observer who works for a church-related entity and who asked that neither he nor his organization be identified.

London's The Times newspaper quoted unnamed senior sources at the Vatican as saying that some cardinals, who will pick the next pope, are discussing the need for John Paul's successor to favor a mandatory retirement age, probably 80, the same age at which a cardinal no longer can vote for a new pope.

The paper quoted "a senior source" as saying "everyone knows that in terms of hands-on operation, he has not been hands-on for quite a bit now, for 18 months to two years."