AP

Jerry Falwell

LYNCHBURG (AP) -- The Rev. Jerry Falwell was hospitalized with breathing difficulties and placed on a ventilator Tuesday in a recurrence of a viral infection that left him in critical condition, hospital and church officials said.

Falwell, 71, was admitted to Lynchburg General Hospital shortly before midnight suffering from "respiratory arrest," the hospital said in a statement. He was put on a ventilator and stablized but remained in critical condition, the statement said.

"He is on a respirator and he's resting comfortably and in stable condition," said Ron Godwin, Falwell's executive assistant. "It's a reoccurence of the viral pneumonia."