VATICAN CITY, May 18: A frail Pope John Paul II celebrated his 82nd birthday on Saturday, but in a rare move a priest read most of the pontiff’s speech for him during an audience with thousands of children.

The move came amid continuing fears over the pope’s health, and came just days after two senior cardinals raised the controversial possibility that ill health may eventually force him to step down.

The pontiff first met 7,000 students and teachers of the Christian Brothers order in a wheelchair to hear them sing “Happy Birthday, Holy Father.”

But when time came for the sermon, he read the beginning and end, while a priest read the middle portion.

This is a common occurrence on the pope’s many tiring trips abroad but it marked the first time it has occurred on Italian soil, Vatican sources said.

Despite suffering from a debilitating arthritic left knee and Parkinson’s disease, the pontiff is due to embark Wednesday on a trip to Azerbaijan and Bulgaria — his 96th voyage abroad.

But it has not gone unremarked that the four-day trip will take the pope to two countries with tiny Catholic communities, making for a relatively untaxing trip for a man who has begun using a wheelchair more and more often in the past seven months.

As the pope enters his 83rd year, the Vatican has been abuzz with rumours that resignation might not be far away.

Despite the ill health that has left him almost immobile, the pontiff has sought to dispel the resignation rumours that have circled for as long as two years, but increased in past months.

On Thursday, senior Vatican cardinal Josef Ratzinger and Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras said separately that the pope could step down if his health deteriorated further.

The pope’s physical condition has worsened considerably in the past year and he was unable to take part in Easter festivities in April.

After reading his copy of L’Osservatore Romano, he went to his private chapel to meet with five Polish nuns, as he does each year on his birthday, who sing a rousing version of a Polish song called “Stolat!” (100 years).

Last year, the pope was said to have remarked: “That’s not a lot! Besides, I’m not too far from 100 years old.”

A busy schedule awaited the pontiff, who nonetheless put aside time for lunch to enjoy a traditional Polish tart.—AFP