Vatican City, Feb 8, 2005 / 22:00 pm
According to the Holy See Press Office, “this morning the Holy Father presided at the concelebration of Ash Wednesday Mass in his hospital room.”
Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls said today that, “ashes blessed by the Holy Father were placed on him by the first of the concelebrants.”
John Paul II has been in the Gemelli Polyclinic hospital in Rome since last week following a bout with the flu. During the Ash Wednesday Mass Navarro-Valls noted, the Holy Father “invited his personal physician, Dr. Renato Buzzonetti and the other doctors caring for him to the rite."