Rome, Italy, Feb 9, 2005 / 22:00 pm
A young boy being treated for cancer paid a surprise visit to Pope John Paul II yesterday at Gemelli Hospital in Rome, reported the Associated Press.
The pope's personal secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, had paid a visit to the children in the hospital’s oncology ward, located next to the Pope’s room.
As Archbishop Dziwisz visited the children and gave them each a rosary, a young boy approached him and said he had been knocking on the Pope’s door since yesterday, but no one ever answered.
The archbishop reportedly replied: "Perhaps you would like to greet the Pope?" and then led him inside the Pope’s room.
Hospital spokesman Nicola Cerbino told reporters the boy asked for healing.
"Pope, make me well," said the boy, whose name and age were not disclosed. The Pope responded with a smile and gave him a special blessing, telling him to share it with the other children in his ward.
"Take the Pope's blessing to all the other children who are hospitalized, with the wish of a full recovery," John Paul was quoted as saying.