Pope John Paul II has been rushed to the hospital amid problems breathing during a bout with the flu.
This kind of story in the news biz is to put it bluntly the kind of story where a beloved or famous figure is aging or sick and the press starts to cover their health closely due to an anticipated sad outcome. The details:
VATICAN CITY – Pope John Paul II was rushed to a Rome hospital on Tuesday night, "as a precaution," after his flu worsened and he developed breathing problems, the Vatican said.
The Pope, 84, was taken to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, three days after it was announced he had flu and was forced to cancel all of his appointments. According to a Vatican official the Pontiff has flu and acute laryngeal tracheitis.
The Pope is not in intensive care.
"The influenza which has affected the Holy Father for three days is complicated this evening with acute breathing problems … for this reason it was decided to urgently hospitalize [the Pope]," said a statement from Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.
Pope John Paul has been in poor health for many years, but he has seldom let that get in the way of his official duties. He regularly says mass and greets pilgrims who travel to the Vatican.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.