by Denis Barnett
ROME - Doctors gave Pope John Paul II the all-clear to leave hospital on Sunday, the Vatican announced, 18 days after he underwent throat surgery to ease acute breathing problems associated with flu and Parkinson`s disease.
"The Holy Father, in agreement with doctors treating him, will return this evening to the Vatican, where he will continue his convalescence," Navarro-Valls said in a statement.
Vatican sources said it was likely the pope would make the short journey from Rome`s Gemelli hospital -- his home for the past 18 days -- to the Vatican at around 6:00 pm (1700 GMT).
The Vatican announcement came minutes after the 84-year-old pontiff managed to make his first address to pilgrims since his February 24 hospitalisation, uttering a few words of greeting from his hospital window for the traditional Sunday Angelus.
"Dear brothers and sisters, thank you for your visit," John Paul II said in a hoarse but reasonably clear voice, demonstrating for the first time in public that he had recovered his powers of speech. "Have a good Sunday," he added.
Though uttered with great effort, the few words spoken by the pope will help to dispel doubts about his ability to guide the Roman Catholic Church, for the moment at least.
It was the first time the pope has spoken during a public appearance since he underwent a tracheotomy to relieve his acute breathing problems.
"This is the most important moment of our stay here. We heard the voice of our pope. We didn`t expect it. We hope that our presence and our prayers will help him," said Eva Filipiak, mayor of the pope`s home city Wadowice.
Poles in the crowd of pilgrims outside the Gemelli said the pope had said: "I salute Wadowice" in Polish during his brief address.
"I started crying as soon as I heard his voice," said Ivana Fudala, another Pole who travelled with a Polish children`s choir from Chicago to try to catch her first ever glimpse of the pope.
"I could only see his hands, but even that was very important for me," she said as the group, clad in bright yellow raincoats, chanted under the pope`s window: "Chicago loves You!" in Polish.
The hundreds of pilgrims, priests, nuns and just plain curious outside the hospital kept a hushed silence as they awaited the pope`s appearance but broke into applause as soon as the blinds of his window were parted.
Lupita del Toro, from the Mexican town of Halisco, said hearing the pontiff`s voice filled her with hope that he would recover. "It gives me strength to go on."
Angela Doria, who lives in Rome, could not hold back her tears as soon as she heard the pontiff`s frail voice. "He has always touched my heart, but particularly now that he is suffering so much," she said, as her husband consoled her.
Hopes that the pontiff would speak at least a few words to pilgrims had been raised on Friday when Vatican television showed footage of the pontiff speaking at a mass.
But few were expecting the Vatican`s announcement that he would be discharged on Sunday.
In his last bulletin on the pope`s condition on Thursday, Navarro-Valls had said the pope needed to spend a few more days in hospital but suggested he would not be discharged before Monday at the earliest.
The pope has been having daily therapy to help him recover his voice and breathe more easily since his February 24 tracheotomy operation, when doctors inserted a tube into his neck to allow him to breathe properly.
Doctors at the Gemelli proposed the operation after the pope was hospitalised for a second time in a month with the same complaint, a throat infection which was affecting his breathing, already significantly impaired because of his Parkinson`s disease.
He was previously rushed to hospital on February 1, spending nearly 10 days recovering at the Gemelli before returning to the Vatican aboard his "Popemobile".
Sunday`s Angelus followed the normal pattern since his hospitalisation, with John Paul II appearing at his window at Rome`s Gemelli hospital only after an aide, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, had delivered the traditional Sunday blessing before hundreds of pilgrims in St Peter`s Square.

03/13/2005 13:04 GMT