Pope John Paul spent a restful night in hospital after throat surgery and is now breathing unassisted, but doctors have advised him not to speak for several days, his spokesman said on Friday.
Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the Pontiff's heart and blood circulation remained good and he had no bronchial pneumonia infection -- a possible complication of the tracheotomy performed on him on Thursday to ease his breathing problems.
The 84-year-old who has been Pope since 1978 was taken to hospital for the second time this month on Thursday morning with a relapse of influenza.
In the evening, doctors performed the tracheotomy -- cutting a hole in his windpipe -- to prevent him from choking and allow air to flow directly to his lungs.
"The Holy Father spent a night of tranquil rest. This morning he ate breakfast with a good appetite," Navarro-Valls said, adding that the breakfast had consisted of coffee, biscuits and yogurt.
"The post-operative situation continues regularly. He is breathing on his own and cardio-circulatory conditions remain good."
The Pope has not yet decided whether he would make his usual weekly appearance to the faithful on Sunday, Navarro-Valls told reporters. The next medical bulletin would be on Monday.
As Catholics around the world prayed, leaders who acknowledge the Pope's towering role in the events of the 20th century -- including helping the fall of communism in his native Poland -- expressed their affection and apprehension.
"The Holy Father is in our thoughts and prayers, and we wish him a speedy recovery and return to the service of his Church and all humanity," President Bush said.
SILENCED
While the Pope is alive he is the only leader of the 1.1 billion-member Roman Catholic Church. Its bureaucracy can run without him but his aides have no major decision-making powers.
But the man known as the Church's great communicator might not be able to speak for some time, medical experts said, and even then he may need a special device to help him form sounds.
Navarro-Valls sought to play down such fears, indicating the Pope might be speaking again in days not weeks.
"Upon the advice of his doctors, the Pope must not speak for several days so as to favor the recovery of the functions of the larynx," he said.
Experts said the operation to open the Pope's throat showed he had been in danger and warned that there was a "significant likelihood" he could develop pneumonia, though he has not so far.
"A severe pneumonia can easily be life-threatening in someone of his age and condition," said Dr Paul Larson, assistant professor of neurosurgery at University of California, San Francisco, Medical Center.
The struggle to breathe is the latest health battle that John Paul has fought since he assumed the Papal throne in 1978.
One of the most active popes in history, he played a hand in the fall of communism, spoke out against the war in Iraq, fought for human rights and called for debt relief for poor countries.
But many have criticized his conservative views on contraception, gay marriage and women priests.
Recurrent illnesses over the last few years have raised questions as to whether the leader of the world's Catholics -- the third-longest-serving Pontiff in history, is fit to rule or whether he should resign.
Vatican officials have said he is very much in control and that any resignation would be "up to (his) conscience." In his weekly address on Sunday, the Pope said the call to "look after the flock" was "particularly alive" in him.
The picture of the white-clad Pope slumped in his throne laboriously waving at the faithful has become a regular feature of Sundays at the Vatican -- a far cry from the youthful Karol Wojtyla who was nicknamed "God's athlete" in his early papacy.
The Pope spent 10 days in hospital earlier this month, struck by 'flu. Thursday's return was the 10th time he has been hospitalized since becoming Pope, including once when he was shot in a 1981 attempted assassination in St Peter's Square.
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