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· February 28 2005: Pope begins physiotherapy to help him breathe and speak following throat surgery.

· February 24 2005: Pope undergoes successful tracheotomy operation to ease breathing problems after returning to hospital in Rome having suffered a relapse of his earlier breathing difficulties.

· February 1 2005: Pope admitted to Rome's Polyclinic Gemelli hospital with breathing difficulties and an inflamed throat while battling the flu.

· January 31 2005: Vatican announces Pope has "mild" case of flu, forcing cancellation of appearances.

· September 24 2003: Pope misses weekly general audience due to an intestinal problem.

· January 3 2001: One of Pope's physicians confirms he is suffering from Parkinson's disease, almost 10 years after he begins to show symptoms consistent with the illness.

· June 15 1999: Flu, with slight fever, keeps him from celebrating Mass in Krakow, Poland, for 1 million people during pilgrimage. Also that year, illness forces pontiff to miss a weekly audience.

· February 1997: Pope cancels general audience because of flu with fever.

· October 8 1996: Pope taken to hospital for operation to remove an inflamed appendix.

· August 15 1996: Pope cancels general audience because of what Vatican calls an intestinal ailment accompanied by fever.

· March 13 1996: Pope cancels Mass after Vatican says he is stricken by a similar ailment.

· December 25 1995: Pope, overcome by fever and nausea, interrupts Christmas message in St Peter's Square and is bedridden with flu.

· April 29 1994: Pope taken to hospital after breaking leg in a fall in his bathroom. He undergoes a hip replacement surgery. Discharged May 27.

· November 11 1993: Pope dislocates right shoulder in fall down steps at Vatican audience. He undergoes an operation and leaves hospital after an overnight stay.

· July 15 1992: Operation for benign tumor on colon. Leaves hospital July 28.

· June 20 1981: Pope admitted to hospital for infection linked to injuries sustained in attempted assassination more than a month before. Undergoes operation on August 5 and is discharged August 14.

· May 13 1981: Pope shot in abdomen and hand in attack by Turkish gunman in St Peter's Square. He spends 20 days at Gemelli Polyclinic hospital in Rome after undergoing surgery.

· 1940: The young Karol Wojtyla is knocked down by a tram and almost killed. He escapes with a fractured skull and, say doctors, an improved memory. A few months later, he is hit by a lorry in a quarry outside Krakow. This leaves him with one shoulder higher than the other and a permanent stoop.