As questions arise, Pope sees his frailties as affirming life: can John Paul II continue to do the work necessary to lead a worldwide institution with a billion followers?

For the last five years, Pope John Paul II has presented the face of a hearty man in decline: A tongue that speaks seven languages slurred from Parkinson's disease. A skier and mountain climber who now needs help to fall to his knees to pray.

When the Pope underwent an emergency tracheotomy on Feb. 24, after being hospitalized with the flu earlier in the month, some feared he might not recover. But the following Sunday he made a brief appearance at his hospital window.

Until now, with few exceptions, the Pope has struggled through a busy schedule of public appearances and appointments. But at the Vatican, the question ]s in the air: Can a suffering 84-year-old man continue to lead the Roman Catholic Church, an institution representing a billion people?

The Pope and the people around him say yes--that his very sickness conveys a powerful spiritual message. "What he is saying is that life is worth living until its natural end," says one Vatican official.

VALUING OLD AGE

Especially as he has grown frailer, John Paul has spoken about the value of old age. He has held himself up as an example, refusing to hide his quivering hands and his inability to walk.

"It is important to speak of suffering and death in a way that dispels fear," he told hospice workers in Austria during a 1998 visit.

When he visited Bulgaria in 2002, one religious leader, noting the Pope's frailness, said, "I think people around him must tell him he should stop."

WOULD HE RETIRE?

But the Vatican says that John Paul is unlikely to consider retirement. (Only four Popes have retired, the last in 1294.) Other observers have speculated that the Pope would step down if his illness began to impair his mental functioning.

"Some people say it's stubbornness," says the Rev. Thomas Williams, a dean at Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in Rome. "But I have the feeling that if he started losing his grip, he might consider it."

Ian Fisher reports for The Times from Rome.