Pope wants to go home

2005-03-03 17:00

Vatican City - Pope John Paul II is "progressively improving" and following the Roman Catholic Church's activities daily, the Vatican said on Thursday, suggesting he might be released from the hospital in time for Easter.

Papal spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the wound on John Paul's throat after surgery to insert a breathing tube was healing. He said the frail, 84-year-old pontiff wants to go back to the Vatican, "but at the same time, he accepts doctors' advice" not to rush back to the Holy See after suffering his second breathing crisis in a month.

The pope has been receiving several top churchmen "with whom he daily follows the activity of the Holy See and the life of the church," Navarro-Valls told reporters.

He said the Vatican would decide on Saturday what the pope's schedule for Sunday would be, but that it was likely that an archbishop would read out the Angelus prayer and blessing to the faithful just as this past Sunday.

Positive light

Asked whether the pope might be back at the Vatican in time for Easter celebrations on March 27, Navarro-Valls told The Associated Press: "It's possible." He said the Vatican was going ahead with its regular Easter schedule and that if the pope was released before the holiday, his level of participation would still have to be decided.

"The health of the Holy Father John Paul II continues to improve and show progress," the spokesperson said. "As previously stated, the pope is eating regularly and spends several hours each day in an armchair. The surgical wound is healing."

It said the pope's daily therapy to improve his ability to breathe and speak were continuing "with the active collaboration of the Holy Father," and that the next medical update was not expected until Monday.

Navarro-Valls said the pope spends some time in the small chapel adjoining his room.

The Holy See has yet to set even a target date for the pope's discharge from Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic hospital, suggesting doctors are prolonging his stay to enhance his chances of recovering. Some have criticised the Vatican for discharging the pope too early after he suffered an earlier respiratory crisis on February 1.

"There's no precise date yet. I wouldn't want to put forth a likely date because it might change in a positive or negative way," Navarro-Valls said.

The Vatican has sought to portray John Paul's condition in a positive light, emphasising the visitors he has seen and suggesting that an August trip to Cologne, Germany, for World Youth Day is still on.

"Doctors give us encouraging news, but we need to wait," Cardinal Achille Silvestrini was quoted as saying in the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Ambassadors to the Vatican from several Latin American countries went to the hospital on Thursday to pay their respects and inquire about the pope's well being. They did not see John Paul.

- AP