ROME - Pope John Paul II must follow his doctors' advice and refrain from doing too much, a senior cardinal said Wednesday, adding that there was no cause for alarm about his condition.
"I do not believe that the situation is alarming," Cardinal Pio Laghi told reporters at a press conference in Rome.
"Of course, the doctors are protecting him because he would want to do even more. It is therefore necessary that he obey the doctors, he obviously has to be quite careful," said Laghi, a trusted papal envoy who John Paul II dispatched to Washington in a bid to prevent the Iraq war in 2003.
Laghi said the pope had insisted on a premature release from the Gemelli hospital, from which he was discharged -- reportedly against doctors' advice -- following a throat operation.
"For him, this Holy Week is really a week of sacrifice, he relives it with passion," the 83-year-old Italian cardinal said.
Laghi warned the press against raising speculation on the pope's condition.
The Vatican has made no statement about the pope's condition since his discharge on March 13, and rumors were rife earlier this week on the possibility of the pope returning to hospital for the third time in seven weeks.
"Everyone is hoping that he will take part in the celebrations of Easter. For the time being, his apartment has been linked (through video) to St. Peter's Basilica," Laghi said. "We will take it day by day."
The pope has delegated all the main Easter ceremonies to cardinals, except his traditional Urbi et Orbi (to Rome and the world) blessing on Easter Sunday, when he normally greets pilgrims in some 60 languages.
He will miss Holy Thursday's solemn mass commemorating Jesus' Last Supper, but the Vatican has left open the possibility that he made make a virtual appearance, via a video link-up, at the Way of the Cross ceremony on Good Friday at Rome's Colosseum.
03/23/2005 13:22 GMT