HEALTH OF THE POPE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 13069, 8 May 1913, Page 5

HEALTH OF THE POPE.

HOW T^E ILLNS^ 'A'R^fe. . . : '^atpjfiMJ^. r April 3. All sortsrof. reports are -current about the health of the Pope. Sometimes it is even stated that he is actually dead, and that .his death is being kept secret for inscrutable Ghurch • purposes. Needless to say, such a report receives no credence beyond the circle of extreme fanatical anti-Catholics, who: endeavor always to associate mystery and evil with the doings at the Vatican. The Kome correspondent of . the. Westminster Gazette, writing on March 30th, says : — '. : '!So many, riimo'rs. have been,circulating; regarding !the Pope's health that the straight truth, shorn of exaggeration, may be of • interest. . .'- IJhreei (weeks ago — ' to be: exact, on Friday, March 7, the Pope-felt! a chill,.. JQn, k tha,t v d,%y^he. did His ; usiial- .-■work,^ but^ pnMSatur.dAy7(as he was evidently suffering, from' art attack of. influenza, he was, prevailed on, tp go to tied Itad regard himself as, a 3i«k iman. -The r influenza ran its '-^i.d the throat accompanied, it,, and they ha,y§ both^long sinpe.:^ssed. j-^or -alibut ten; (lays,' ais- alwiySnhappei^ . m >Rbme, $ie patient's; .tempera,ttii-e. J-ose at sunset, dropping ■aj>rnight> ftnd ; ' i'eturn--1 ing to nbrmaT dwing the' day., That; has also pas3ed,;and ? nothing remains^ ofj the original ailment, which was. lijgve? at any time complicated by . any symptjdms connected* with the Pope's enemy, t the gout that caused so.nruejbL ain^iety, in^the summer o-f 1911. , •.. ■'■■. c^ ... "But he,is,not xeo&veringa* be ovght. He had r got oyer\the illness,^, but ,hp is not gaining strength, so that ne_haa ; not been able to resume, the \ordinjairy roiitine work» which is- very heavy t artd'oftOiYifich the public knows little, nipr ".the round of audiences,- -public and private, which amount tb £0,000 persons m the course of a year, exclusive ... of big .. collective | audiences. The Pope.;' willrberiTS :on June -2 next. His health is > generally sound/ except for >his. constitutional goutyxtrouble. . TfJie >vere..able. Uke any other patient of his age, to take a complete rest and change for a month or I two. he could get strong and well again j without difficulty. This, m his case, is [out of the question. He cannot leave, the Vatican for a change, and it is doubtful if m his position, and witli his sensitive disposition, of mind reacting on his body, he can ever get complete rest. The present is tlie moment of all others when he would desire to be well. Celebrations m connection with the Constantinian •' centenary .of the Edict of Milan, of May, 313, begin to-day, to last throughout the year. Week by week' pilgrimages are announced tov,come to Rome, and every pilgrim wants to see the Pope on May 11. There is to be a Papel Chapel m St. Peter's, at which he should 1 be present. "Six hundred pilgrims from Lombardy are leaving Rome to-day without havir^ seen him. There^ is every reason why he should regain strength as soon as possible, and perhaps his anxiety to do so is retarding his recovery. The doctors are not anxious, because there is no ostensible reason for the anxiety, but they are certainly worried by the continued weakness."