The Pope’s Four Word Blessing

“Father, Son, Holy Ghost”

Pope John Paul II’s handlers at the Vatican were quick to show a living pope yesterday, but there seems to be some question as to whether or not he’s 100%, or whether He’s capable of speaking at all:

The appearance, relayed on screens to crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square, was the first the Pope has made since he was taken to hospital last week with breathing spasms brought on by influenza.

Sitting at an open window on the top floor of Rome’s Gemelli hospital, dressed in his full white papal attire, the 84-year-old pontiff looked pale.

‘Father, Son, Holy Ghost,’ he managed to say, in Latin, in a deep hoarse voice, while tracing the sign of the cross in the air.

There was speculation in the Italian media that the voice of the Pope, whose face was partly hidden by the paper he was reading from, was recorded. But the Vatican spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, dismissed that as nonsense.

Well, not entirely nonsense after all. It seems just as when the pope’s voice began to falter, someone turned on a recording. The pope’s face was also covered by a copy of the Angelus, so no one could tell if his lips were moving.

Continue to pray for the pope. He is a good man who is demonstrating to the entire world a true meaning of Christian suffering. Wow.