Pope set to return to Vatican within days

Pope John Paul II was strong enough to turn the pages of written greetings today and speak in a clear voice, according to an Italian bishop who called on him in his hospital room.

Another churchman, the Vatican’s number two official, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, expressed hope the ailing pontiff would be back at the Vatican in a few days.

“I’m confident that, with the help of prayer and of the doctors, the Pope will be able to return to the Vatican within a few days,” the Italian news agency ANSA quoted the cardinal as saying at a religious ceremony.

“The Pope will again be at the helm of the ship of Peter with his wisdom and his strength,” Sodano was quoted as saying. Another Italian news agency, Apcom, quoted the cardinal as saying, “I don’t see any reason to worry.”

In a hopeful sign that the 84-year-old pontiff would be well enough tomorrow to say a few words to a public apprehensive about his health, giant video screens were ordered to be set up in St. Peter’s Square, where thousands of faithful were expected to gather to pray for his recovery.

Vatican broadcast technicians were told to prepare for a possible video or audio connection with Gemelli Polyclinic, the hospital where the pope was rushed to on Tuesday night by worried aides after he developed breathing problems during a bout with the flu.

Whether the hook-up with the hospital takes place depends on the Pope’s condition, Vatican officials indicated.

Bishop Vincenzo Paglia, who, with three other clerics, visited John Paul in his 10th floor hospital apartment, described the Pope as alert, communicative and grateful for prayers of support.

“You can understand him easily,” Paglia told reporters at the hospital. He said the pontiff turned the pages of a letter of well-wishes signed by dozens of Christian clerics who had prayed for the Pope in a hospital chapel.

The Vatican has said the Pope is improving, but has provided few concrete details of his day-to-day progress since he was admitted with what it said was voicebox spasms and an inflamed windpipe.

Tonight John Paul watched from a TV in his hospital room a ceremony for seminarians assembled in a Vatican auditorium, a member of the papal entourage at the hospital said.

A Vatican official read the Pope’s prepared written address to the seminarians. Originally, John Paul was scheduled to deliver the speech himself.

Shouts of “Vive il papa!” (long live the Pope!) punctuated the ceremony, with seminarians and choir members at one point breaking into foot-stomping, hand-clapping rounds of chanting John Paul’s name in Italian.

Noon tomorrow is the hour the pontiff customarily appears at his studio window overlooking the square, and thousands of pilgrims and Romans usually turn out to receive the Pope’s blessing and listen to remarks about faith or current events.

Failure to see or hear the Pope at that traditional hour would likely deepen worry about the Pope’s prospects for rebounding from his latest setback to his ailing health.

For at least a decade, John Paul has had Parkinson’s disease, a progressive neurological disorder which hampers proper muscle functioning and which could have played a role in the voice box spasms that made it difficult for him to breath.

The Vatican today said US Cardinal James Stafford would preside in the name of the Pope at an Ash Wednesday prayer service in St Peter’s Basilica. The service had been scheduled before the Pope’s illness in place of his regular general audience.