Report- Pope has decided not to retire but to continue on until

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican specialist who collaborated with Pope John Paul II on the best-selling book "Crossing the Threshold of Hope" says the pontiff has firmly decided not to retire.

In a front-page article Saturday in the Milan daily Corriere della Sera, Vittorio Messori quoted what he said he had deduced from the pope's thoughts on the subject:

"The force to continue is not my problem but that of Christ, who wanted to call me, though unworthy, to be his vicar on Earth. In His mysterious design, He has brought me here. And it will be He who decides my fate."

Messori did not say how he had made the deductions or how he had learned what the pope thought. He said, however, that his information on the subject was recent and without doubt.

The pope himself referred indirectly to the issue Saturday in a homily marking the feast day of St. Peter and Paul.

"Like them, we are invited to follow an itinerary of conversion and love with Christ," the pontiff said. "Isn't it He who has called us? Isn't it always He who we must announce with consistency and fidelity?"

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said the Vatican had no specific comment on the Corriere report but added it was not particularly new. Even before Saturday, the pope has on various occasions said it was for God to decide when his work was finished, Rev. Benedettini said.

The article, however, was published as new questions arose about the pope's health and rumors circulated he might use a trip to his native Poland in mid-August to announce his retirement.

John Paul turned 82 in May and has appeared increasingly frail in the last several months, suffering from the symptoms of Parkinson's disease as well as hip and knee ailments.

He has cut back on participation in long, ceremonial Masses and uses a chariot-like cart to get around when he does celebrate them. His speech is slurred, often to the point of incomprehension and he frequently appears out of breath.

As his 82nd birthday approached, questions about his future heightened, with a leading cardinal and possible successor, Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras, saying he thought John Paul "would have the courage" to resign if poor health left him unable to carry out his ministry.

The Vatican immediately dismissed such suggestions -- as it has in the past when they have surfaced -- and John Paul himself that same week asked for prayers and support to continue his ministry.

Vatican officials have said whatever his physical limitations, the pontiff's mind is still sharp.

And the pope continues to travel: He has a three-nation trip planned starting July 23 -- his 97th foreign visit -- to preside over the Roman Catholic Church's World Youth Day celebrations in Toronto. He is then to travel onto Mexico and Guatemala.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls had suggested, while the pope was in Bulgaria last month, that the pontiff might drop the stops in Guatemala and Mexico for health reasons.

However, the Vatican later announced that the trips would go ahead as planned.

There is no provision in church law for removing an incapacitated pope, but it does allow popes to resign.

There is precedent -- Pope Celestine V, who abdicated in 1294. He spent the last two years of his life in confinement because his successor feared he could become the rallying point for a schism.