Vatican Radio was once ordered to suspend all programmes because its transmitters were interfering with an ultrasound scan being carried out on John Paul II, according to a new book on the late pope.
The incident, recounted by the Polish pontiff's private physician Renato Buzzonetti, took place when John Paul returned to the Vatican from hospital, following the assassination attempt against him in 1981. Suddenly he felt ill and so doctors ordered an immediate ultrasound scan of his abdomen, to be carried out in the papal apartments in the Vatican.
The first scan had to be stopped because there was too much interference from Vatican Radio's transmitters. Officials telephoned the radio network and explained the problem, asking that all transmissions be temporarily stopped.
The radio station initially believed it was a hoax and that a Red Brigade terrorist unit was trying to pull off a bizzarre stunt. But eventually directors were convinced and so transmissions ceased for a few minutes, as requested. The pope had his scan and radio listeners were later told there had been a "technical problem". This and other previously unknown nuggets from John
Paul's medical history are included in the book Lasciatemi Andare (Let me go), which was published on Wednesday by Catholic publisher San Paolo Editori.
The book contains accounts from three people who witnessed the Polish pope's medical history at first hand. As well as Buzzonetti, there are accounts from John Paul's private secretary Stanislaw Dziwisz and Angelo Comastri, the pope's vicar general for Vatican City.
Among the new information in the volume is the fact that the first symptoms of Parkinson's disease were noticed in Karol Wojtyla as early as 1991. The press and media began to mention his trembling hand in 1994 and the first official reference by a Vatican official was in 1996.
John Paul underwent seven operations during his pontificate and spent time in hospital on ten separate occasions.
In the book Buzzonetti praises the pontiff's resilience and patience but also says that he aged quicker than might have been expected because of the accumulated effect of his ailments and dramatic life. "He paid the price of a real age which didn't correspond with his physical age. He had been tested by difficult early years, great efforts, problems and deprivation," he was
quoted as saying.
Pope John Paul died on April 2 last year after a tracheotomy operation to help him breathe. In the last days a septicemia set in which proved fatal in his weakened condition.
