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Taken off the Southam news wire: >Copyright: The Daily and Sunday Telegraph >Pope to miss Mass on Christmas Day By Victoria Combe in London The Pope will not be celebrating Mass on Christmas Day, the Vatican announced Wednesday. It is the first clear admission that the Pope's health is failing. On doctors' advice, the Pope will restrict himself to midnight Mass on Dec.24 in St Peter's which finishes at 2.30am on Christmas Day. He will miss the 10am service on Dec 25 and will rest until midday when he delivers his Christmas blessing to thousands of pilgrims from the balcony overlooking St Peter's Square. The decision follows a year of precarious health for the Pope who had his appendix removed in October and has looked continually exhausted and pained during his foreign trips. Last year he cancelled Christmas Day Mass because of a fever. Prof Francesco Crucitti, the Pope's surgeon and head of surgery at the Gemelli Clinic in Rome, has admitted that the Pope has Parkinson's Disease - a progressive neurological disorder. This was evident earlier this month when the pontiff met the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, to discuss reviving unity talks. The Pope was stooped and barely able to move one foot in front of the other. His expression was unblinking and fixed - a symptom of the disease - and he managed only a simple "Bon giorno" in reply to the archbishop's enthusiastic greeting. The Daily Telegraph //copyright 1996 The Telegraph plc, London END Distributed by the SouthamStar Network. SBN) 15:40est 11 Dec 96< This is the first official confirmation that I have seen that the Pope has PD. If there was an earlier posting, I missed it. Judith