Pope celebrates Mass in hospital room, meets with aides

Published: 2005-03-01

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Five days after a tracheotomy to relieve breathing problems, Pope John Paul II was able to say Mass in his hospital room, meet with aides and continue initial sessions of speech therapy, the Vatican said. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who brought the pope some papers to work on, told reporters March 1 that the pontiff had spoken to him -- in two languages, German and Italian. "The pope was able and alert, and he'll work on the things I brought him," said the cardinal, who heads the Vatican's doctrinal congregation. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters the same day that the pope's recovery was "completely normal" and that he had spent another peaceful night at Rome's Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic. Navarro-Valls called the 84-year-old pope a "good patient" and said he was carrying on with breathing and speech rehabilitation exercises.

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