Vatican may cancel visits by ailing Pope

The Vatican suggested for the first time yesterday that it might cancel Pope John Paul II's visits to Mexico and Guatemala in July, and that future trips could be also dropped as the Pontiff grows frailer.

The Pope, now 82, will go to Toronto to mark the Catholic Church's World Youth Day, but the Vatican was evaluating whether he could manage the other stops on the planned 11-day trip, said Joaquin Navarro-Valls, a papal spokesman.

"Toronto is clear. For the others, we shall see," Mr Navarro-Valls said. "No decision has been made yet."But he added: "Something that has been confirmed can be unconfirmed."

During John Paul's papacy, the only trips postponed because of his ill health were a visit to New York 1994 and a trip to Armenia in 1999.

Despite persistent questions about the Pope's ailing health, the Vatican had insisted as recently as Saturday that his travel schedule would not be altered. Emphasising the sensitivity of the issue, Mr Navarro-Valls stressed that no decision had been made regarding the visits to Mexico and Guatemala.

On the final day of a trip to Bulgaria the Pope sat slumped in a white chair at an outdoor Mass in the city of Plovdiv yesterday, looking feeble. His hands trembled and his voice was heavily slurred, symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Although the Pope has difficulty walking and has been wheeled around on a platform, Mr Navarro-Valls denied there were plans to use a wheelchair on future trips.

The Pope read only part of his homily, as he did throughout the Bulgarian visit and on a preceding stop in Azerbaijan, handing it to a priest to finish. But a meeting with young people in Plovdiv appeared to boost his energy. An alert John Paul waved and reached out to touch youths, who cheered wildly. About 20,000 people attended the Mass in Plovdiv's main square, where security was heavy.

Two Orthodox Church officials stood beside the Pope; the Vatican has been trying to heal a rift between Catholics and Orthodox believers.

The Pope beatified Kamen Vichev, Losafat Shishkov and Pavel Dzhidzhov, priests executed in 1952 on false charges of spying. John Paul declared them to be martyrs.