ThoMES
26 years of serving Catholics of southwestern Indiana
VOLUME 27
NUMBER 6
E
October 11, 1996
ebration of World Mission Sunday set for Oct. 20
(CNS) __ World
to be observed
to the daily
church in close to
said the
the Prop-
for the Unit-
hop William J.
York, nation-
.of the missionary
in a statement that
in parishes
country who pray
and sacrifice, contributing to the
vitality of the faith here at home."
Pope John Paul II noted that
"every Christian is called to be a
missionary and witness."
"Faith and mission go hand in
hand," the pope said, "the stronger
and deeper the faith, the more we
will feel the need to communicate,
share and witness to it."
The "universal character" of
the annual collection, taken up
worldwide on the next-to-last
Sunday of October, can be illus-
trated by an $81 contribution
i to pets when they die?
"" frora an article in the Catholic News Service
there may not be pets in heaven, animals do have
place in creation," according to an article
Please turn to page 5 for the complete
from a Rwanda parish for the
church's missionary work, said
Bishop McCormack.
According to the Propagation
of the Faith, the needs of mission
churches supported by the World
Mission Sunday collection con-
tinue to grow. In 1995, 17 new
dioceses, 14 of them in Africa,
were established in the missions,
and 19 new seminaries were
opened in mission territories.
The society said this year's col-
lection will be divided as follows:
57 percent for pastoral and evan-
gelizing programs in the poorest
areas of Asia, Africa, parts of
Latin America, and the Pacific
Islands through the Propagation
of the Faith; 34 percent for U.S.
home missions through the
American Board of Catholic Mis-
sions; and 9 percent for the work
of the Catholic Near East Welfare
Association.
Propagation of'the Faith is one
of four pontifical missionary
agencies under the jurisdiction of
the Vatican Congregation for the
Evangelization of Peoples.
Doctors remove Pope's
appendix, rule out
serious disorders
By JOHN THAVIS
Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) -- Doctors suc-
cessfully removed Pope John
Paul II's inflamed appendix and
ruled out any more serious
intestinal disorder for the 76-
year-old pontiff.
The pope regained conscious-
ness almost immediately after
the 50-minute surgery Oct. 8
and "greeted and thanked every-
one" on the medical staff, said
Dr. Francesco Crucitti, who per-
formed the operation at Rome's
Gemelli hospital.
Crucitti said all of the pope's
vital signs were normal during
and following the surgery. He
said the pope might get out of
bed the next day and could be
dismissed from the hospital in a
week or SO,
"It might be even sooner. But
let's not forget the pope is in his
77th year," he said.
Crucitti said the operation
confirmed what he and other
doctors had diagnosed earlier
this year: that the pope was suf-
fering from recurrent episodes of
appendix inflammation, which
produced symptoms of fever and
nausea.
"The regional examination
allowed us to exclude, once
again, the presence of other
pathologies," he said. He said he
could "categorically" rule out a
tumor as a cause of the pope's
recent flare-ups.
Crucitti expressed irritation
with recent Italian newspaper
reports suggesting that the pope
had a more serious disease, such
as cancer, which doctors were
either concealing or failing to
diagnose.
"It's time to put an end to all
these fantasies we've read," he
said. "There is no secret. I'm here
to tell you what the situation
really is, and it's exactly as we
described it" in previous medical
statements.
Crucitti said a textbook appen-
dectomy was performed on the
pontiff. Doctors found exactly
what they expected to find: that
the pope's appendix had been
inflamed and had developed scar
tissue. The doctors also removed
some "adherences" in the area,
scar tissue that sometimes devel-
ops following surgery. The pope
has been operated upon twice in
the intestinal area, after a 1981
shooting and in 1992 to remove a
benign tumor,
The pope went through the
operation well, and all his circu-
latory, respiratory, blood and
metabolic functions remained
within the norm during surgery,
he said. •
The pontiff had about 10
stitches. He was being treated
with antibiotics and was receiv-
ing the normal therapy for
appendectomy patients, Crucitti
said.
He added that the pope's spir-
its were good before and after
surgery.
"He was always serene," he
said.
Papal spokesman Joaquin
Navarre-Vails, speaking at a
separate briefing at the Vatican,
said the operation's success was
expected at the Vatican -- and it
left people relieved.
"I think there's relief whenev-
er a surgical operation confimns
a previous diagnosis. But the
Vatican had every trust in what
the doctors had diagnosed. There
was no surprise," he said.
The Vatican spokesman said
the pope aw(ke at :; a.m. the
morning of surgery and spent
some two hours alone in prayer
in a private chapel next to his
hospital room. At 5 a.m:, he con,
celebrated Mass with his per-
sonal secretary. "
The pope began the pre-opera-
tion routine at about 7 a.m., and
surgery was completed by 8:40
a.m. The pope had awakened by
the time he reached his room and
asked doctors how the surgery
went, Navarre-Vails said.
The doctors then handed the
pope the medical repm¢ they had
just drawn up for public release;
the pope asked a nun standing
nearby to read it.
According to the medical bul-
letin, Crucitti was assisted by
three other surgeons, along with
a cardiologist and three mem-
bers of an anesthesia team.
See POPE page 10
