Rudy Giuliani details powerful 'spiritual experience' while 'out of it' in hospital
Topics: Rudy Giuliani, US News, Health
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: Alex Kent/Getty Images
Topics: Rudy Giuliani, US News, Health
81-year-old Rudy Giuliani is opening up about his near-death experience after a serious health scare in recent weeks.
Reports emerged in early May that Giuliani had been hospitalized and was in a serious condition after developing viral pneumonia.
It's said that Giuliani was in such a bad way that a priest was brought in to give the former mayor of New York City his last rites.
But those close to him had faith that he would pull through as the elderly politician is a 'fighter'.
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"He’s a fighter — the way he was yesterday in such a critical condition, he did have a priest come anoint him," his physician, Dr Maria Ryan, told Fox.
"And all the prayers from around — it’s like a miracle. This guy’s got nine lives, today he’s doing much better."
It was certainly touch-and-go for Giuliani though, and he became so sick that he fell into a coma at one point.
While he was in a coma, the disbarred lawyer had a 'significant spiritual experience'. Speaking on his show America's Mayor Live, Giuliani said: "I also had a very, very significant spiritual experience at a time in which I was in a state of like... out of it.
"I would equate it to a dream of my being on line headed for, I can’t say headed for heaven, headed for a trial by St. Peter."
"There was a very significant intervention by my Peter, I have my own Peter... Peter J. Powers, my friend of my lifetime," he continued.
Powers was a lifelong friend and former top aide of Giuliani's. He died in May 2014 following a long battle with cancer.
Going on to recall his encounter with Powers, Giuliani shared: “Peter said some very significant words, and I made sure, as soon as I woke up, I started telling people and recorded it in part."
When he woke up from the coma, he had his son, Andrew, record him as he retold the story of what he'd experienced while he was 'out of it'.
The politician has promised to shared more details about what he saw during his near-death experience at a later date.
It's said that Giuliani's recent health woes were exacerbated by a respiratory illness that he contracted around the time of 9/11.
The former mayor's spokesperson, Ted Goodman, said at the time of the 81-year-old's hospitalization: "This condition adds complications to any respiratory illness, and the virus quickly overwhelmed his body, requiring mechanical ventilation to maintain adequate oxygen and stabilize his condition.”