Pope 'improving'

Pope John Paul's health is continuously improving and he is eager to return home but there is no indication when he can leave hospital and if he can take part in Easter services, the Vatican said yesterday.

The Pontiff normally presides at eight long ceremonies in Easter week, two of them late at night. Even a reduced role by the Pope in Holy Week activities would send a worrying signal to the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics.

"The health condition of the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, is in progressive and continuous improvement," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in the latest medical bulletin.

Asked if the Pope could leave hospital before Easter, which falls on March 27 this year, Mr Navarro-Valls said: "It's possible but I would not hazard a prediction."

Mr Navarro-Valls said the Vatican's schedule of Easter ceremonies had not been changed but it was still not clear to what extent the Pope would be able to participate in them.

Easter, which marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the most important event in the Christian liturgical calendar and the Holy Week from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday is one of the most intense periods for the Pope.

The 84-year-old Pontiff, who underwent a tracheotomy a week ago, would most likely make an appearance at his hospital window on Sunday but no decision had yet been taken.

The spokesman said this Sunday would probably be a repeat of last week, when an aide represented the Pope in St Peter's Square and the Pope appeared briefly from his hospital window.

The statement said the Pope's surgical wound in the throat was healing, that he spends several hours each day sitting in an armchair and that physical rehabilitation exercises to help him breathe were continuing with his "active participation"

"He has a great desire to return to the Vatican, that's obvious, but at the same time the Pope accepts the advice of the doctors," Mr Navarro-Valls said.