What did Pope John Paul II suffer from? “The organs could not function normally”

When he was elected Pope in 1978, he presented himself to the world as an exceptional clergyman: athletic, youthful, loving mountain hiking, skiing and football. He appeared to be in full strength and health, at the age of 58 by no means advanced. However, the 26 years of John Paul II’s pontificate turned out to be a long period of struggle with diseases, injuries and weakness caused, among others, by attacks on his life and treatments saving it.

1. Pope John Paul II almost throughout his pontificate struggled with diseases, injuries (including after being shot by an assassin) and the weakening of the organism caused by them.
2. However, his health problems did not make him resign as pope or resign from numerous trips abroad
3. John Paul II suffered from Parkinson’s disease for many years, which significantly decreased his immunity. Including because of this, his body was unable to fight off the strong infection that ultimately caused his death
4. You can find more up-to-date health information on the TvoiLokony home page

Health problems did not prevent Pope John Paul II from realizing his vision of the pontificate, which was expressed mainly in pilgrimages around the world. He made 104 trips abroad, visiting all inhabited continents. In many places he was the first pope in history to make his presence there (including in Great Britain). During his pontificate, he visited Poland nine times, France and the USA seven times. In Italy alone, he made almost 100 trips.

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The coup and its aftermath

The beginning of the Pope’s path, which was difficult for health reasons, was the attempt on his life, which took place in May 1981 in St. Peter in Rome. He was shot there by a Turkish bomber. The pope was immediately taken to the Roman clinic of Agostino Gemelli, where he was subjected to hours of surgery that saved his life. He spent 22 days in hospital rehabilitation. Later, he repeatedly suffered from various ailments following the gunshot.

The attack in Rome was not the only event of this type. A year later, when he traveled to Fatima to thank him for being saved from death, he was attacked by a Spanish former clergyman who tried to bayonet the Pope. However, this time John Paul II was not injured.

A decade of accidents and operations

The following years brought with them further health struggles of John Paul II. In 1992 he underwent surgery to remove a colorectal adenoma. His gallbladder was also removed.

A year later, he fell in an audience and dislocated his right shoulder and had a minor fracture in his humerus. He was operated on at the Gemelli clinic again.

The following year, the Pope suffered a fracture of the neck of the right thigh bone when he was leaving the bathroom in his apartment. This ended up with the implantation of a titanium femoral neck prosthesis. He had to walk with a cane for several months afterwards. He was already suffering from Parkinson’s disease, which significantly weakened his body.

In June 1999, during his eighth trip to Poland, he collapsed in his apartment at the headquarters of the nunciature in Warsaw and cut his head open. Three stitches had to be folded.

Speech disturbance and breathing difficulties

Three years later, the health condition of John Paul II began to deteriorate even more, and his fitness was weakening month by month. He was diagnosed with knee arthritis, which made it difficult for him to carry out all religious rituals and travel. It was arthritis that was supposed to force the pope to move around the Vatican on a mobile platform.

In September 2003, while on a trip to Slovakia, the Pope’s state of health alerted the public again. Not only was he unable to take a step on his own, but he was very weak. He couldn’t read the opening speech, he had difficulty breathing.

It got worse, although there were brief spells of better well-being. The symptoms were repeated: difficulty breathing, disturbed speech, and mobility. In February 2005, acute respiratory failure forced doctors to conduct tracheotomii. Within a month, he was to lose 19 kg, he was fed with a probe.

A urinary tract infection killed him

It was actually the beginning of the end of his life. In late March, the Pope suffered a septic shock combined with a cardiovascular collapse, the direct cause of which was a urinary tract infection.

– The Pope’s body was weakened by Parkinson’s disease and he did not have the strength to defend himself in the event of a urinary tract infection. As a result, toxins infected the blood, and the main organs could not function normally, said cardiologist Dr. Stefan Karczmarewicz from the Center for Postgraduate Medical Education, quoted by the Naukawpolsce.pl website, shortly after the Pope’s death.

According to the death certificate, the pope underwent inflammation of the urinary tract, followed by kidney failure, and then blood poisoning (sepsis). Details of the disease were explained by Dr. Karczmarewicz: “The consequence of kidney failure is a disturbance in the regulation of the volume of blood circulating in the body. The excess of circulating blood, which most likely happened to the Pope, impairs the circulatory system and requires him to do extra work pumping blood. It is an additional heavy burden for a person who has a heart weakened by Parkinson’s disease ».