Pope Suffers From Abdominal Illness

Pope John Paul II canceled his celebration of an early morning Mass on Thursday, hours after being hurried to a hospital with an abdominal illness.

He did make an appearance later in the day, but sounded tired and weak as he wished pilgrims gathered in the courtyard of his summer palace a happy holiday in several languages.

Aug. 15 is the church’s Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and is also an Italian national holiday.

On Wednesday night, the pope was taken to a hospital for a CT scan to determine if his illness was connected to a benign bowel tumor removed in 1992, the Vatican said.