Pope John Paul has started speaking again after his recent throat surgery and is mentally alert, a Roman Catholic cardinal reported today after meeting the pontiff.
"The Holy Father spoke to me in German and Italian. He was very alert. He will be working on some of the documentation that I brought to him," said Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the guardian of Roman Catholic doctrine, as he left Rome's Gemelli hospital.
"I am very happy to see the Holy Father is very alert, both mentally and in his capacity to say essential things with his own voice," he added.
The 84-year-old Pope had a tracheotomy operation last Thursday to help ease breathing problems. The surgery involved cutting a small hole in his windpipe and inserting a tube to allow air to flow freely into his lungs.
For the second time in less than a month, John Paul was rushed to Gemelli hospital on February 24th with breathing problems that the Vatican said were caused by a narrowing of the larynx.
Medical experts had warned it might take weeks before the Pope would recover his powers of speech.
For the first time in his 26-year pontificate, the Pope failed on Sunday to deliver the weekly Angelus prayer, but he did make a surprise appearance at his hospital window, waving weakly and making a sign of the cross.
The Vatican has not said when the Pope might leave hospital, raising the possibility that for the first time in his papacy he might miss Easter services at the end of the month.