Pope to remain hospitalized for several days

VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II had a restful night and his condition stabilized after he was rushed to a hospital with breathing trouble, but he will spend several more days at the clinic to recover from the flu, the Vatican said Wednesday.\nAround the world, Roman Catholics paused to pray for the health of the 84-year-old pontiff.\nTests showed John Paul's heart and respiration were normal, and he got several hours' rest after being taken by ambulance to the hospital Tuesday night, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said. The pontiff was running a slight fever from the flu and would spend "a few more days" at Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic for treatment of respiratory problems, he said.\n"There is no cause for alarm," Navarro-Valls said.\nThe pope has Parkinson's disease, and Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, the Vatican's top health official, told Associated Press Television News that the slumping pontiff's inability to hold his back up straight has left his lungs and diaphragm in a crushed position.\nNavarro-Valls insisted the pope had never lost consciousness, and he did not need a tracheotomy to insert a tube into his windpipe to help him breathe. He said John Paul participated from his hospital bed in a Mass celebrated by his secretary in the room.\nNavarro-Valls characterized Tuesday night's hurried admission to a special papal suite on the 10th floor of the hospital as "mainly precautionary." Trying to appear reassuring, Navarro-Valls even joked at one point that John Paul was taken by ambulance to the hospital because "the subway doesn't go that far."\nNavarro-Valls, who has a medical degree, told The Associated Press early Wednesday the pope had the flu and acute laryngeal tracheitis -- inflammation of the windpipe -- and suffered a "certain difficulty in breathing." He denied Italian news reports that John Paul had a CAT scan at the hospital and was taken to intensive care.\nThe Vatican said the pope also experienced a "larynx spasm crisis."\nThe spasms likely were a complication from the respiratory illness the pope has had. Experts said it was possible his Parkinson's disease, which makes muscle control difficult, made it harder for him to breathe.\nThe first sign of the frail pope's illness came Sunday, when he kept clearing his throat during a 20-minute appearance at his studio window, thrown wide open on one of Rome's most bone-chilling days in years so he could release a pair of doves symbolizing peace into St. Peter's Square.\nThe flu has been sweeping through Italy since December, and the Rome region has been among the hardest-hit. The Vatican declined to say whether the pontiff had a flu shot, but a Vatican official said it was "probable" because all employees of the Holy See were offered them.\nFrom John Paul's native Poland to Manila to Moscow, the faithful gathered to pray for his recovery.\n"After we got the news, we added a special prayer during our morning Mass," said Bishop Szczepan Wesoly, who presided at the service at the Polish church near Piazza Venezia in the center of the city attended by Polish nuns in black habits.\nIn his hometown of Wadowice, Poland, well-wishers prayed at St. Mary's church, where the young Karol Wojtyla was baptized and attended Mass before his ordination.\n"I wish the Holy Father good health," said Maria Pasnik, 46, a housewife in Wadowice. "I know the situation has improved and I pray that we can see or hear him again"