Edward Cardinal Egan, who had been planning to wind down his leadership of the New York Archdiocese this week, was hospitalized yesterday with stomach pains—and then doctors recommended the 77-year-old receive a pacemaker.
The NY Archdiocese released two statements. The first explaining that the Cardinal would receive a pacemaker today, after checking into St. Vincent's for stomach pains on Saturday night: Egan was "awake and alert, and his stomach pains have decreased," and was disappointed "at not being able to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Patrick."
The second then said the pacemaker surgery was not an emergency and thus put on hold indefinitely, to give Egan a chance to regain his strength. Pacemaker recipients are asked to take it easy for a week or two after surgery; Egan was scheduled to participate in a number of Easter Week services, but now a spokesman says, "It is our hope that he'll be back in the cathedral for Holy Week and Easter Sunday. But we thought it prudent to let the doctors do their work. We have not ruled out Easter Sunday but we have no way of telling."
It's unclear whether there's a connection between the stomach pains and pacemaker suggestion, the Times reports, which also added Egan was seen walking with a cane for the first time this past Thursday (Egan said he had post-polio syndrome). In yesterday's mass, Bishop Dennis Sullivan said, "I ask all of you to please offer a prayer this morning ... for the cardinal, so that healing can come to him."
