Frail Pope Struggles Through Lourdes Mass
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LOURDES, France  - Pope John Paul, a sick man  among the sick, wound up a emotional visit to this miracle  shrine Sunday and struggled with iron determination to finish a  sermon in order to encourage others suffering around him.
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Pope John Paul II showed his illness has become a part of his message during a draining pilgrimage to Lourdes, raising more questions over how long he can last, but the extent of his Parkinson's disease did not diminish a strong political content in his speeches.
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Pope John Paul's fragile health stabilized on Wednesday after urgent medical treatment for severe breathing difficulties, but he will have to remain in hospital for the time being, the Vatican said.
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LOURDES, France - A frail Pope John Paul II, breathing heavily and gasping at times, celebrated an open-air Mass on Sunday for several hundred thousand pilgrims, many in wheelchairs, at a shrine to the Virgin Mary that is associated with miraculous cures.    At one point he said "help me" in Polish while struggling through his homily in French...
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With tens of thousands of U.S. nuns over age 70, the Roman Catholic Church is facing a massive financial shortfall for the care of retirees in religious orders &#151; a gap that over the long term dwarfs costs from the clergy abuse crisis.
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The Catholic shrine of Lourdes yesterday opened a special bank account and appealed for donations from the faithful after it emerged that last weekend&#39;s visit by the Pope had left it with a 1.2m (£812,000) deficit.
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Pope John Paul II's deteriorating health has churchmen wondering what might happen if he can no longer carry out his papal duties and doctors questioning when that might happen.
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Pope John Paul, looking weak and barely  able to talk, appeared at his hospital window on Sunday for the  first time since he was taken ill and said through an aide that  he was still "serving the Church and all humanity."
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To see white-haired Father Angelo D'Agostino, an 80-year-old Jesuit and doctor,  you would almost certainly underestimate his strengths.
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Pope John Paul II's weakening health, underscored this past week by his hospitalization with complications from the flu, has left the world's largest religious denomination without a strong chief executive, but with an iconic leader who can unify the church symbolically even as he is increasingly unable to do so administratively, church leaders and scholars who study the Vatican say.
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Pope John Paul II blessed the faithful from his hospital window Sunday, looking frail and speaking with difficulty but determined to show he can still lead the Roman Catholic Church.
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As the incoming governor prayed for strength to lead Louisiana through its recovery from Hurricane Katrina, the city's infirm gathered at a Mass to pray for their own healing and honor the 19th century priest many call the saint of New Orleans.
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Pope John Paul thanked the world  for praying for his recovery as he delivered his first Sunday  blessing since leaving hospital last week, but aides had to  help the frail Pontiff read his address.
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Pope John Paul II vowed Sunday to continue his mission despite his latest health crisis, telling the faithful from the hospital in a message read by an archbishop that he was grateful for their prayers and affection.
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Pope John Paul II made a rare allusion to his personal struggle with aging and illness, saying in a Christmas address Tuesday that each passing year brings a greater need for help from God.
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LORETO, Italy  - A frail Pope John Paul travelled to a hilltop shrine near the Adriatic Sea on Sunday, putting three more Catholics on the road to sainthood during an open-air mass attended by some 200,000 pilgrims.
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Major medical problems Pope John Paul II has faced during papacy: