The pope and hepatitis

by dura-luxe 5 Replies latest watchtower medical

• 

  dura-luxe

  I was recently reminded of the JW line that "even the pope" once got contaminated blood. You know, what they say when they run out of scriptures and try to pretend that their stance is really about health and not about fear of dying Armageddon (like they'd let their child die if they weren't JW's. Sure.)

  So I decided to do something that no Jehovah's Witness ever does, which is actually double check some facts. I've done several different google searches and have come up with nothing.

  Does anyone know where the heck this statement about the pope came from? I'm stymied.

  - Kyria
• 

  ezekiel3

  Here you go:

  *** w82 6/15 pp. 22-23 "Good Health to You!" ***

  Blood transfusions have infected countless thousands with hepatitis and diseases like the often-fatal virus that Pope John Paul II received.

  *** w91 6/15 p. 11 Saving Life With Blood?How? ***

  14

  As the risk of contracting disease from transfused blood has become more widely known, people are reconsidering their view of transfusions. For example, after the pope was shot in 1981, he was treated at a hospital and released. Later he had to go back for two months, and his condition was so grave that it seemed he might have to retire as an invalid. Why? He got a cytomegalovirus infection from blood given him. Some may wonder, ?If blood given even to the pope is unsafe, what about transfusions given to us average people??

  WT infers that Pope John Paul II now refuses other people's blood:

  *** g95 2/8 p. 28 Watching the World ***

  With "entirely legitimate pride," says the Italian newspaper La Stampa, the medical team that operated on Pope John Paul II in April stated that the hip surgery "could not have turned out better." But operations performed on the present pope have not always had the best results. When he was operated on following the 1981 assassination attempt, John Paul II had to stay in the hospital for two months to be treated for an extremely serious cytomegalovirus infection brought on by blood transfusions. Thus, it is not surprising that, although this time, according to La Stampa, "blood loss was abundant," no transfusions were administered. Instead, the paper notes, "the Pope?s blood was recuperated, sterilized, and retransfused during the operation."

  And a note on a former pope:

  *** g86 9/8 pp. 26-27 The Sanctity of Blood?An Ancient Controversy ***

  The first blood transfusion on record is considered to have taken place in 1492 and was performed on Pope Innocent VIII. Here is a contemporary account: "Meanwhile, in the city [of Rome] tribulations and deaths have never ceased; for, first of all, three ten-year-old boys, from whose veins a certain Jewish physician (who had promised that the pope would be restored to health) extracted blood, died without delay. For, in fact, the Jew had told them he wanted to heal the pontiff, if only he could have a certain quantity of human blood and indeed young; which, therefore, he ordered to be extracted from three boys, to whom after the blood-letting he gave a ducat for each; and shortly thereafter they died. The Jew indeed fled, and the pope was not healed."

  This date even makes the "7,000 years of human history" timeline:
  

  *** w68 5/1 p. 272 Making Wise Use of the Remaining Time ***

  CHART OF DATES FROM MAN?S CREATION TO 7000 A.M.

  1492 5517 Pope Innocent VIII dies after a blood transfusion
• 

  Scully

  I seriously question the veracity of the information in the Blood brochure.

  CMV (cytomegalovirus) is endemic (meaning it's just there, not as a result of medical intervention or external sources of contamination) in as much as 70% of the world's population. I was surprised to learn that through my being a blood donor. A staffer mentioned to me that a select group of blood donors give their blood specifically for premature infants; and when I expressed an interest, she told me that if I was a candidate, I would have been contacted already. The presence of CMV in the blood rules a person out from donating to preemies, because premature infants are especially vulnerable to CMV due to their immature immune system. The same goes for people with compromised immune systems through disease (AIDS) or treatments that suppress immunity like chemotherapy and prednisone. In other words, I have CMV in my blood, and it's not affecting me. I've never had a blood transfusion or received any blood product. I have no idea how it ended up in my system.

  CMV is what is known as an opportunistic infection. Normally a person's immune system has the resources to deal with it, but any compromise can result in a flare-up of CMV infection, from the CMV that lurks in their system.

  There's no way of knowing at this point whether Pope John Paul II had CMV in his system prior to his being shot in 1981. But it's highly presumptuous for the WTS to speculate and claim that he "got" CMV as a result of a blood transfusion, when it's very likely (a 70% chance) that he had it all along and it became active during his recuperation from a GSW and the subsequent surgery. However, it suits the WTS's position to make that spurious claim, because there's no way of verifying it.

  Love, Scully
• 

  Valis

  However, it suits the WTS's position to make that spurious claim, because there's no way of verifying it

  yeah just like using the example of P. Innocent VIII...NOW we know it has to be a very close match...but I guess the Writing Dept forgot about that science called hematology...or did they not have that way back in 1986?

  I was recently reminded of the JW line that "even the pope" once got contaminated blood.

  sounds like idolatry to me..

  Papal Bull or Papal Bullshit? Caveat Lector...

  Sincerely,

  District Overbeer
• 

  Scully

  FYI... I was not able to find any non-JW websites supporting the notion that Pope John Paul II's case of CMV being the result of tainted blood transfusions.
• 

  ezekiel3

  Does this make me Mulder?

  In 1981 Mehmet Ali Agca attempted to assassinate John Paul II in St. Peter?s Square. The Pope received several blood transfusions and contracted a cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection that put his life in grave danger once again, due likely to one or more contaminated blood units. A team of physicians, including Dr. Thomas Merigan from Stanford University, was called in for consultation. http://www.catholic-sf.org/101703.html