Pope John Paul II has put off a planned visit to Croatia until next year.
The Catholic IKA news agency today quoted Roman Catholic officials in Zagreb as saying that a beatification ceremony that the pope was due to attend had to be postponed and that the pope would therefore not visit until 2003.
However, the visit was not part of the pope's official calendar and had only been tentatively pencilled in. The pontiff's failing health has prompted speculation that he might step down rather than serving until he dies.
The 82-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church, who suffers from severe Parkinson's disease and arthritis, returned Sunday from a five-day trip through Bulgaria and Azerbaijan, during which he showed signs of increased frailty. AFP