Pope Improving, Eating Again

Pope John Paul II's health is continuing to improve and he has begun eating, the Vatican said Friday, but it would not commit to the pope's weekly address on Sunday from the hospital treating him for the flu and respiratory troubles.

"The state of health of the Holy Father has improved," papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters, reading from a brief Vatican medical bulletin. He said tests confirmed that the 84-year-old pope's latest health crisis had stabilized, and that there was a "favorable evolution" of the breathing troubles he suffered earlier in the week.

It was unclear when the pope began taking food. Navarro-Valls, who refused to elaborate on virtually any point of the health bulletin, said only: "Certainly today, maybe yesterday evening, but certainly today."

The implication, says CBS News Correspondent Allen Pizzey, is that prior to Friday, "he may well have been on intravenous drips as opposed to taking solid foods."

Underscoring the sense that the frail pontiff was not in immediate danger, Navarro-Valls said the Holy See would not issue another medical update until Monday.

"I think they're rather getting sick of having satellite trucks and television cameras and still photographers camped outside the Gemelli Hospital and they'd like us all to go away and leave the pope alone," said Pizzey.

But Navarro-Valls would not confirm that John Paul would go ahead with his weekly address via an audio hookup from his papal suite at Rome's Gemelli Polytechnic hospital rather than from his usual perch in a window high above St. Peter's Square.

"It's very important to him and something he does not want to miss," Navarro-Valls said.

Vatican Radio said John Paul spent a third restful night at the hospital, but said the pope canceled a Friday meeting with Josep Borrell, the president of the European Parliament.

The pope's age and Parkinson's disease make his flu more dangerous, and doctors were watching him closely for any signs of complications.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi, who heads Vatican radio, told Italian state broadcaster RAI in an interview Friday: "The pope has shown a great courage in sickness, in old age, and we can say, going toward death."

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

"The Vatican press office is very much trying to give the impression that all is going well, that this is a bout of the flu, that he will get over it," reports Pizzey. "He's an old man, they're looking after him, he's getting the best medical care you could possibly get in Italy, or perhaps anywhere in the world.

"They really want to dispel the image of the pope being on his last legs," Pizzey said.

Two doctors dressed as clowns — complete with painted faces and red noses — headed Friday to the children's cancer ward on the 10th floor, the same floor where the pope's suite is located.

"We hope to write a letter for the pope with the kids," said Dr. Sara Filanti, one of the clown physicians. "We love him and we want him to get better."

The Vatican spokesman said that some visits are being received by the pope, and he spoke about the many other phone calls they've been receiving and the large number of written messages, faxes and e-mails, reports CBS News' Sabina Castelfranco.

The good wishes have poured in from around the world — even from the Turkish gunman who shot the pope in a botched assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square in 1981. Mehmet Ali Agca's handwritten note from prison wished the pope "a speedy recovery."

The Islamic Cultural Center of Italy sent a note to the pope on Friday relaying "our most ardent and sincere wishes for a speedy and complete recovery that can permit you to carry on the precious mission of peace, brotherhood and dialogue."

The assassination attempt was the first major health crisis for the pontiff, once a sportsman fond of skiing and hiking. He suffers from crippling hip and knee ailments as well as Parkinson's, which have left him in frail health for years.

The pontiff 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.

John Paul has for some time been cutting back on his activities, letting aides read his speeches or represent him at events abroad. Still, before coming down with the flu he had not missed a scheduled audience in 16 months, despite his ailments.

"We all are praying for him," said German Cardinal Karl Lehmann, attending a Mass at Rome's Saint John Lateran basilica. "He is a great pope because also his suffering is a message."