Bittermann: Key cardinals at pope's side
 |  Jim Bittermann |
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|  VIDEO |
 Vatican says Pope John Paul II suffers "cardiocirculatory collapse"
 Pope John Paul's health takes a turn for the worse.
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ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Pope John Paul II remained in "very serious condition" Vatican officials said Friday, but they described the 84-year-old pontiff as "lucid, fully conscious" and "very serene."
CNN's Bill Hemmer discussed the pope's condition Friday with CNN correspondent Jim Bittermann.
HEMMER: When will we get another update on the pope's condition?
BITTERMANN: We heard there was another medical bulletin coming out. It was a written communique, reflecting the same remarks that Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the papal spokesman, had made to the press earlier. Really, not another new bulletin coming out that we know of at this point.
The pope asked to have read to the him this morning the Way of the Cross -- the biblical account of Christ's final hours on earth as he was going off to be crucified -- and it's a tale of much suffering.
The pope asked to have that read to him. The pope, on Fridays, normally does perform the Stations of the Cross but he wanted to have it read to him as he, himself, is suffering.
One other thing I should add, Bill, another thing that's going on at the Vatican, is that the key players for papal transition have gathered at the pope's bedside this morning.
The doctors and nurses, of course, are at the pope's immediate side. But very close at hand are also Cardinal Angelo Soldano, the secretary of state, the No. 2 at the Vatican and his No. 2, Leonardo Sandri, the person who takes care of the day-to-day running of the Vatican.
Also, Camillo Ruini, the vicar of Rome and perhaps, most significant -- he's the person ... the one who would make the announcement that the pope had died. He is also there this morning.
So it's not an indication necessarily that the pope is about to die, but certainly the key players are in place at the Vatican if the pope's health turns worse.
HEMMER: If it does turn worse and if he requires life support, do we know or understand what the pope's wishes would be for that life support?
BITTERMANN: Well, I think we know pretty clearly. The pope himself, just last year in a message to Congress about death and dying and the care of patients in a vegetative state, said the following.
He said: "The administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life. Its use should be considered morally obligatory until it's obtained its proper finality."
So what the the pope is saying it's a perfectly normal way to maintain life -- as the Vatican said, by the way, in the Terri Schiavo case -- it's normal to maintain life and more really obligatory to maintain life with food tubes and hydration in place.
