Vatican says pope 'eating regularly' as condition improves

Published: 2005-02-04

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II's condition continued improving on his third full day in the hospital, and doctors said he was "eating regularly." Examinations carried out in Rome's Gemelli Hospital Feb. 1-4 "confirm the stabilization of his clinical situation," said Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the pope's spokesman. The spokesman did not say Feb. 4 whether the pope still had a fever, whether his throat was still swollen or if doctors had predicted when the pope could be released from the hospital. Navarro-Valls insisted that the doctors' Feb. 4 statement that the pope was "eating regularly" meant that he could swallow solid food and was not on a liquid-only diet, at least as of that morning. The pope was taken to the hospital by ambulance at 10:50 p.m. Feb. 1 after experiencing difficulty breathing. Doctors at Gemelli diagnosed an "acute laryngeal tracheitis," or swelling in the throat, with "laryngeal spasms," which cut off the air supply.

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