Pope Improving, Eating Again

Pope John Paul II's health is continuing to improve and he has begun eating, the Vatican said Friday. He even began his third day in the hospital with his customary morning latte, a sign of a return to healthy routine for the pontiff, CBS's Kelly Cobiella reports.

The Vatican would not commit to the pope delivering his weekly address on Sunday, but decided not to issue another bulletin until Monday, which is interpreted as a positive sign on his health. And his spokesman said the Sunday address is something the pope "doesn't want to miss."

"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.

But while the Vatican expresses optimism that the pope will rebound from his latest health crisis, outside medical experts give a grimmer long-term view, saying the pontiff's Parkinson's disease puts him on the path of a steady — and perhaps rapid — decline.

The 84-year-old pope was rushed to a hospital Tuesday with breathing problems. Vatican officials say he has the flu and is being treated for a swollen windpipe and spasms of the voice box. They announced Friday the pope's condition had stabilized and his breathing had improved.

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."

The reported problems are common among patients with advanced Parkinson's disease. Often they are caused by a chest infection such as pneumonia, triggered by swallowing mishaps where food or saliva enter the lungs instead of the stomach.

The Vatican has not revealed whether the pope's medical crisis is linked with such a scenario, but experts say such incidents are increasingly likely to happen to him.

"It's very hard to be able to predict for any given individual where they are going to ultimately be unless you know their case very well, but ... it does seem very likely he will continue to have these kinds of problems," said Parkinson's expert Dr. Michael Kaplitt, director of movement disorder surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York.

He said judging from his symptoms, the pope could succumb to Parkinson's or to a disorder complicated by Parkinson's at any time. "It could be a week, it could be a year and a half. There's really no way to tell," he said.

Parkinson's occurs when cells in the part of the brain that controls movement are lost. These cells produce dopamine, a chemical messenger that enables people to perform smooth coordinated movements.

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.