Early news reports Friday from the Vatican indicate that the pope's condition has worsened. The Associated Press reported that his heart had momentarily stopped during treatment for a urinary tract infection, according to a statement issued early Friday by Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls. "This morning the condition of the Pope is very serious," said the statement. Yet the statement also said the pope had participated in an early morning Mass and was "conscious, lucid and serene." We will update the story as Catholic News Service receives further information.

Pope's High Fever and Urinary Tract Infection

by Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY/Thursday/(CNS) -- Pope John Paul II was suffering from a very high fever provoked by a urinary tract infection and was receiving antibiotics at the Vatican March 31, his spokesman said.

The 84-year-old pope, still recovering from a Feb. 24 tracheotomy, was struck by "a highly feverish illness caused by a documented infection of the urinary tract," said Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the Vatican spokesman.

"The appropriate antibiotic therapy was begun," the spokesman said in a statement issued late March 31.

Navarro-Valls also said the pope's condition "is strictly monitored by the Vatican medical team caring for him," apparently ruling out an immediate hospitalization.

In addition to the tracheotomy to ease severe breathing problems, Pope John Paul March 30 began receiving nutrition through a nasogastric tube