The tired, 78-year-old Pontiff was in his study working on a speech when he felt the first attack of pain. It began in his lower abdomen and rapidly became more and more intense. The old man lifted the phone.
When he heard the Pope's voice, Msgr. Angelo Dell'Acqua, acting Papal Pro-Secretary of State, rushed through the ringing marble corridors of the Vatican to the tiny room on the third floor. He did what he could to ease the Holy Father's suffering; he had called the Pope's physician, Dr. Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi. Also to the Pope's bedside came his three nephews, Swiss Dr. Paul...
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