Pope John Paul at the French miracle shrine of Lourdes. (AFP)

Brussels, Aug. 16 (Reuters): Pope John Paul’s health has deteriorated and the head of the Roman Catholic Church may be near the end of his life, a Belgian cardinal was quoted as saying today.

The 84-year-old Pope, who has Parkinson’s disease and severe arthritis, visibly struggled as he wound up an emotional visit to the French miracle shrine of Lourdes yesterday. A crowd of about 200,000 listened to his words from a field near the grotto where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a peasant girl in 1858.

“It was one of the most moving celebrations ever,” Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who is seen as a leading contender to succeed John Paul, was quoted as saying in the Belgian daily Het Laatste Nieuws.

“The Pope’s health has seriously weakened. When the Pope says: ‘I end my pilgrimage here’, that could mean two things. That, at least was how people listening to him in the field interpreted it. It was almost his goodbye to Lourdes and maybe also to his life,” the cardinal added.

Danneels told Belgian VRT radio the Pope’s comments about the end of his pilgrimage “may point to something deeper”. “It could of course mean that it is not something that will happen tomorrow or next month but that he does consider that the end is approaching,” he added.

The Pope, whose speech is often hard to understand, no longer walks in public and has to be wheeled around in a special chair. His voice was sometimes slurred during yesterday’s open-air Mass and he nearly collapsed on Saturda. It is not the first time his frailty on a foreign trip has fuelled speculation over how long he has left to live.