Pope “tranquil” after surgery

VATICAN CITY, Pope John Paul II is resting in a Rome hospital after doctors performed a successful operation to help the ailing pontiff breathe.

Catholics and other well-wishers around the world lit candles and prayed for the pontiff after he underwent a tracheotomy Thursday at Gemelli Hospital to relieve respiratory problems caused by a relapse of the flu.

The 84-year-old pope, who has ruled the church for a quarter century, is now breathing through a tube in his throat.

"He's fine, and he's tranquil," said Gianna Letta, under-secretary for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

"The doctors are satisfied with the way he has undergone the surgery."

A Vactican official said the operation, which involves cutting an incision into the windpipe, took about 30 minutes and ended without complications.

The atmosphere at the hospital in Rome was "very calm" but Letta said doctors would spend the night in the hospital. (Vatican statement)

After the surgery, the pope raised his hand at a visitor, Letta said, but his doctors have asked him not to talk.

The pope was taken to the hospital on Thursday, less than two weeks after he had been released from the facility after a nine-day stay from complications of the flu.

The pontiff began feeling ill Wednesday, had a fever and was taken to the hospital for "specialized treatment" and "further assessment," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.

A Polish priest close to the pope, interviewed on Polish TVN television during an evening newscast, sought to reassure viewers.

"This is not a terminal illness," the Rev. Conrad Hejno, a Dominican friar, said from Rome.

He added that people should "get used to" the fact the pope may be taken periodically to the hospital.

The pope has a massive following after leading the church, and its more than one billion adherents worldwide, for more than a quarter of a century.

A tracheotomy is a routine operation that typically requires general anesthesia, but can be a risky procedure for elderly patients in fragile health, as the pope is.

"It's not the operation itself that is the concern, it's the anesthesia," said CNN senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. "That's a bigger risk than the operation."

After the tracheotomy, he is likely to be put on a ventilator and probably won't be able to speak for some time, Gupta said.

U.S. President George W. Bush, flying home from a European trip, said, "the Holy Father is in our thoughts and prayers."

"We wish him a speedy recovery and return to the service of his church and all humanity."

Witnesses who saw the pope enter the hospital said he was conscious and appeared relaxed as he was rolled in on a stretcher.

The pope suffers from a number of chronic illnesses, including crippling hip and knee ailments and Parkinson's disease, a progressive neurological disorder that can make breathing difficult.

Thursday's procedure was his 10th operation, and he has had a hip replacement and survived a 1981 assassination attempt.

His latest illness has reopened debate about whether popes should retire instead of reigning for life. The last pope to abdicate was Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415. John Paul has repeatedly said he intends to carry out his mission until the end. (Full story)

True to his word, the pope has continued on with his work, reading his weekly address to the faithful from the window of his Vatican apartment on Sunday and appearing on closed-circuit television on Wednesday. His voice sounded gravelly, but he appeared animated. (Full story)

On the same day he released a book where he said homosexual marriages are part of a "new ideology of evil." (Full story)

Born Karol Wojtyla in Poland in 1920, John Paul II was elected pope in 1978, to replace Pope John Paul I, who died after just 34 days at the helm of the church.

A staunch anti-Communist, the pope has used his moral authority to put pressure on Communist regimes during the Cold War, particularly in his own country where he gave key support to the Solidarity labor movement.

He has also been a theological traditionalist, rejecting the idea of female or married priests and championing the church's stands against abortion, euthanasia, artificial birth control, the death penalty and same-sex marriage.

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