treatment Monday, February 28, is praying for the ailing Pope John Paul II, who is just a few floors away from her in Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic hospital.
"As we are both in the same hospital, I hope that we both realize our dreams," said Diar. She was partially paralyzed when a bomb exploded in her bedroom as Italian forces fought back Iraqi insurgents in the city of Nassiriya last year, several media reported.
Diar and her grandfather were flown to Rome on Saturday, February 26, and were to see specialists at the Gemelli on Monday, February 28.
Speaking through a translator about the pontiff to reporters she said she hoped "God will think about both of us, [and] save both of us".
SURPISE APPEARANCE
It came after the Pope made a surprise one minute greeting at a hospital window, his first public appearance since he was rushed to hospital Thursday, February 24, to receive a tracheotomy to ease a breathing crisis.
The 84-year-old pope did not speak during his greeting, but Vatican watchers said it sent an "implicit and powerful message" about his determination to maintain continuity in the church.
The Vatican had previously announced John Paul II would skip his weekly blessing a 26-year tradition he did not miss even after he was shot in 1981 and recovered from an operation in 1992.
MESSAGE READ
His undersecretary of state, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, read a message from the pope while standing between the towering statues of St. Peter and St. Paul outside the basilica.
"Dear brothers and sisters, once again I address you from the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic," Sandri told thousands of people in the square. White drapes were drawn over the window where the pope often gives his weekly address, an Associated Press reporter noticed.
"I thank you with affection and feel you all spiritually near," Sandri said on behalf of the pontiff. "I think of you gathered in St. Peter’s Square, alone and in groups that have come, and to all those from every part of the world who are interested in me. I ask you to continue to accompany me, above all with your prayers."
"RECOVERING NORMALLY"
Vatican spokesman Joaquín Navarro Valls told journalists that the Pope was "recovering normally" from his surgery. He is eating and breathing on his own, but will not be able to speak for some time. However Vatican officials have reportedly asked the pontiff to delegate some tasks after medics told media his hospital stay "won’t be brief."
"No one would dream of taking him out of hospital (now)," Giancarlo Cianfrone, a Rome based ear nose and throat professor, told the Corriere della Sera publication, the French News Agency (AFP) said. "The recovery won’t be brief," he was quoted as saying.
In his native Poland, millions of Catholics prayed for a swift recovery. Among those praying was the Pope’s 82-year-old former roommate.
"KAROL THE MAN"
"When I pray for him, I think not only of the Pope, not only of the head of the church, but also of my friend, of Karol, of the man," the Pope’s roommate from training seminary, Mieczyslaw Malinski, told the Reuters news agency after saying morning mass at his parish in Krakow.
Since his election in 1978, the pontiff inspired Poles’ successful fight against communism and was seen as a moral beacon through the tough transition to a market economy since.
More than half of Poland’s 37 million Catholics go to church every Sunday, second in Europe only to Ireland, and almost 70 percent say the Pope’s teachings have a direct effect on their daily lives, Reuters reported.
(With: Stefan J. Bos and reports from Krakow, Vatican City and Rome)
