Pope Hopes To Address Faithful

Instead of his usual perch overlooking St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul is expected to deliver his weekly address Sunday from a Rome hospital.

John Paul has been hospitalized since Tuesday with the flu. There has been no repeat of the breathing problems that sent the 84-year-old pope to the Gemelli Polyclinic hospital. The Vatican hinted the frail pontiff may have to spend up to a week in the hospital to fully recover.

But Vatican officials say he's expected to address the faithful Sunday from the hospital.

The pope continues to run a slight fever. He is being attended by his personal physician, the clinic's emergency department director and an ear, nose and throat specialist.

CBS News Correspondent Allen Pizzey reports an expert who treated the pope said the pontiff has two major things in his favor: a strong heart and a stronger will to carry on until the end.

There was a Mass at the hospital Thursday for the patron saint of the throat, San Biagio (in the U.S., better known as St. Blaise), whose feast is always celebrated on Feb. 3, with blessings of the throats of the faithful. This year, especially at the hospital, a few extra prayers were added for the pope.

Prayers and good wishes poured in from around the globe, including a hand-scribbled note from the imprisoned Turk who tried to assassinate the pope on St. Peter's Square in 1981.

John Paul has not suffered from any more throat spasms and spent a second restful night, where a team of doctors was watching him carefully for any sign of complications from his flu, the Vatican said in a medical bulletin.

"The Holy Father's general and respiratory conditions show a positive evolution," it read. "The Holy Father spent a restful night."

Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls suggested the pope might spend up to a week at the clinic's heavily guarded papal suite, telling reporters: "When I've had the flu, it lasts seven days."

Italy's ANSA news agency, citing medical sources at the hospital, said the pope had a few sips of water Thursday, which would suggest his throat was more comfortable.

Vatican officials said Thursday they are considering setting up an audio hookup on Sunday which would allow the pope to make his weekly address from the hospital, rather than from his usual perch at a window overlooking St. Peter's Square.

The pope, who suffers from Parkinson's disease as well as crippling hip and knee ailments, has been in weak health for many years. But the Vatican took pains to play down the latest crisis.

"All he's got is the flu, which has become dangerous because of the Parkinson's," Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who heads the Vatican's Congregation of Bishops, told the newspaper Corriere della Sera. "But now the danger is over."

John Paul was rushed by ambulance to Gemelli late Tuesday after suffering what the Vatican called an inflamed windpipe and spasms of the larynx, or voicebox, which had made it difficult for him to breathe.

Dr. Attilio Maseri, a leading Italian cardiologist who has treated the pontiff in the past, said John Paul has two things going for him: "exceptional cardiovascular function, guided by exceptional willpower."

"If he overcomes the respiratory problems he's suffering, he'll certainly be able to go back doing what he was doing before," Maseri said.

As the pope participated in a Mass held in his room, about 50 people - mostly doctors in starched white coats - attended another at the hospital's chapel that was held for San Biagio, patron saint of the throat.

"We are praying for John Paul II so that he can be strong, courageous and full of hope," said Decio Cipollini, who presided over the ceremony.

Despite the Vatican's reassurances, apprehension among the world's 1 billion Roman Catholics triggered a fresh outpouring of prayers and good wishes.

Even Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who shot John Paul in a botched assassination attempt in 1981, sent a letter from prison wishing the pope "a speedy recovery." The clinic treating John Paul is the same one he was rushed to after Agca shot him in the abdomen.

In the pope's hometown of Wadowice, Poland, parishioners streamed into St. Mary's Church, where the young Karol Wojtyla was christened and attended Mass.

"We pray for the Holy Father to get well and to leave the hospital as soon as possible," said Zdzislaw Sordyk, 45, a Wadowice police officer.

The Libyan Embassy in Rome sent the pope a 6.2-foot-high white vase containing yellow and white flowers. The Vatican established diplomatic relations with Libya in 1997 over U.S. objections pegged to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.

The Rev. John Wauk, a professor at Rome's Opus Dei University of Santa Croce, said the world was reacting to the pope's illness with "union, compassion, affection."

"It is the concern of children for a father -- a father who in this case is someone with great responsibilities," he said. "It is very difficult to imagine what the world of the church will be like without Pope John Paul II."