Vatican City - The Vatican refused to comment yesterday on the Pope's health following a report in the US magazine Newsweek which said he would soon no longer be well enough to preside at public masses.
"When Pope John Paul II arrives in St Louis, Missouri, next month for a one-day visit on his way to Mexico, Americans will see the increasing effects of his Parkinson's disease," Newsweek says.
The Vatican has never recognised officially that the pontiff, who will be 79 in May, has Parkinson's disease. Neither will officials discuss the issue of how long the Pope can continue with his work. Newsweek says: "Recently, during a briefing on the next five years of bishops' synods at the Vatican, John Paul stopped the recital at the year 2001. Everything after that, he told an aide, `is for someone else'. "