December 18, 2003	Thursday	Shawwal 23, 1424

VATICAN CITY, Dec 17: The ailing Pope John Paul II held his last general audience of the year on Wednesday, appearing in relatively good form but making it only halfway through his speech to an audience of some 10,000 pilgrims from around the world.

The 83-year-old pontiff, whose fragile health is again under scrutiny as he heads into the demanding Christmas season, was treated to Christmas carols from around the globe and a visit from an Austrian choir dressed up like the Three Wise Men from the Orient.

At the end of the audience, the pope, who suffers from the degenerative Parkinson’s disease and arthritis and whose illnesses have given him trouble in articulating words, was unable to carry on with his full Christmas wishes to the faithful.

The pope is facing a full schedule Christmas week, starting Monday when he exchanges Christmas greetings in his official apartments with the cardinals and other prelates at the Holy See.

On Christmas Eve, December 24, he is scheduled to celebrate the traditional midnight mass at St. Peter’s. The following day he delivers his Christmas message to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square before pronouncing the solemn blessing to the Catholic world known as “urbi et orbi”.

John Paul II will close the Vatican’s year with a ceremony of thanksgiving in St. Peter’s on December 31.

Security ahead of Christmas has been boosted in the Holy City, one of several thousand sensitive sites across Italy considered by police a potential terrorist target.

The measures have included the unprecedented nighttime closing of the via de la Conciliazione, the broad avenue that leads to St Peter’s basilica.—AFP