Raspy pope returns to Vatican home

VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II was released from the hospital and returned to his apartment overlooking St. Peter's Square on Sunday after reassuring the world's Roman Catholic faithful with his own raspy voice that he is on the mend.

A gray Mercedes minivan carried the frail, 84-year-old pontiff back to the Vatican, 2 1/2 weeks after he was rushed by ambulance to Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic hospital and had surgery to insert a breathing tube in his windpipe.

Cries of "Viva il Papa!" ("Long live the pope!") went up outside the hospital as John Paul crossed himself and the van pulled away. He waved and blessed cheering Romans and tourists who lined the route.

John Paul left Gemelli just a few hours after his first live public address since the Feb. 24 operation, managing a few scripted words in a hoarse voice from a window to a crowd of cheering Catholics who had gathered beneath his 10th-floor hospital suite.

"Dear brothers and sisters, thank you for your visit. To everyone, have a good Sunday and a good week," he said, reading from a sheet of paper and singling out faithful from his hometown of Wadowice, Poland, for a special greeting.

Minutes later, the Vatican announced the pope's discharge from the hospital. But its brief statement made clear that the pope was not cured -- merely well enough to continue his convalescence back at the Holy See. It said John Paul was leaving Gemelli "in agreement with the attending physicians."

The pope, whose recovery and speaking difficulties have been hampered by Parkinson's disease, has been getting breathing and speech therapy since his tracheotomy. His spokesman said last week that nothing was being done for John Paul at the hospital that could not be handled in his apartment.

The Vatican did not say whether the tube in his throat was removed or replaced with a smaller version designed to help him speak. A new health update was to be issued today.

The pope spent 10 days at Gemelli for an earlier bout of breathing trouble and was released Feb. 10, only to be rushed back two weeks later.

His return to the Vatican triggered questions among those wondering if he would fully recover or wind up back in the hospital. "We are praying, all the people," said Sister Felicia, a nun at the Vatican. "The world is praying."

Although John Paul was released in plenty of time for Holy Week, which begins on March 20 with Palm Sunday and culminates a week later with Easter, the Vatican says his only commitment so far is giving his traditional blessings on Easter Sunday.

Pilgrims standing vigil at Gemelli and St. Peter's Square wept, cheered and snapped photos with their cell-phone cameras as the pope made his way back to the Vatican.

"It was a joy to see him," said Caterina Strampelli, among the numerous patients who ventured out in their bathrobes to see him off. "He's a symbol of vitality and serenity. He gave me strength."

At the hospital earlier in the day, John Paul greeted flag-waving pilgrims from Wadowice, who had arrived earlier to sing, pray and leave a gift basket filled with lamb, ginger cakes and other Polish delicacies.

"It is enough for us that the Holy Father is coming quickly back to health, and we have the hope that our prayers and our presence here were the cause of this," said Eva Filipiak, the town's mayor. "We hope that we have helped him to carry his cross."

In a message read by an archbishop at St. Peter's, the pope expressed his gratitude to journalists who "not without sacrifice" covered his hospitalization, "thanks to which the faithful in every part if the world can feel closer to me and accompany me with affection and prayer."

John Paul also said he hoped to see many young people taking part in a Palm Sunday celebration at St. Peter's Square, which he said "leads us toward" the Roman Catholic Church's World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, in August. The event is John Paul's only scheduled trip this year.

"The pope is putting everything back together," said Silvia Toscano, 28, of Sicily.

"The Lord helps him," she said. "And perhaps it also helps him to know that there are so many people who wish him really well, who love him."

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Associated Press writers Aidan Lewis and Daniela Petroff contributed to this story.