Medical students, workers serenade hospitalized pope at sunset

Published: 2005-02-10

ROME (CNS) -- Medical students at Rome's Gemelli Hospital offered Pope John Paul II a sunset serenade Feb. 9. A group of about 100 people, mostly students but also clergy, doctors and other health-care workers, gathered under the pope's window at dusk. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, joined the group for song and recitation of the rosary. "It is a pleasure for me to be with you and offer prayers for the pope," said Cardinal Re, who told the group that he had come directly from a visit with the 84-year-old pontiff. The pope was rushed to Gemelli Hospital Feb. 1 after experiencing difficulty breathing. The Vatican announced Feb. 10 that he would return to the Vatican that day. The evening before, Cardinal Re told the students, "When the Holy Father was told about your gathering, he asked me to express his recognition and to bring you his blessings." The cardinal declined to discuss the pope's condition with journalists at the hospital and was escorted by hospital security into his vehicle shortly after blessing the students. The group sang "Emmanuel" and "Salve Regina" below the window of the pope's 10th-floor hospital suite. Some of the students held banners reading, "To you our best wishes," and "Your youths at the university love you." Ivan Demartini, a 22-year-old medical student, said, "We want to make him hear some cheerful music, and maybe he will hear it, and it will help him get better.

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