Rhode Island bishop says pope's mind, memory are sharp as ever

Published: 2004-09-02

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Despite Pope John Paul II's 84 years and weakened physical health, his mind and memory are as sharp as ever, said one U.S. bishop. Bishop Robert E. Mulvee of Providence, R.I., and four seminarians met privately with the pope Sept. 1 as part of a weeklong "ad limina" visit of bishops from Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Heads of dioceses are required to make such visits every five years to report on their dioceses. Boston-born Bishop Mulvee said he found the pope "very alert" and "on a roll" recounting his memories of a mutual friend, the late Cardinal Humberto Medeiros, former archbishop of Boston. "I was searching for remembering certain things" about the late cardinal while the pope remembered things in great detail, "even like the small town he (the cardinal) was born in" on Portugal's Azores islands, he said. "I came out looking like the dummy," the 74-year old bishop said, laughing.

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