A frail but determined Pope John Paul II led his general audience Wednesday and, brushing aside any suggestions he is cutting back on his schedule, announced that, "God willing," he will travel next week to a shrine in Pompeii.
John Paul looked alert and spirited throughout his two-hour appearance during a muggy morning in St. Peter's Square. He skipped his traditional weekly audience last week because of what the Vatican described as a mild intestinal ailment.
In remarks published Tuesday, a close papal adviser said the pope was in "bad" shape, prompting concern throughout the world for the 83-year-old pontiff.
Other Vatican officials and an author who helped John Paul write a best-selling book said the pope, who has Parkinson's disease, has no intention of stepping down from his post.
At his weekly audience, John Paul spent an hour reciting prayers and speeches in several languages, followed by another hour greeting a stream of faithful, who came to his throne-like chair on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica.
Like an affectionate grandfather, he hugged a pair of smiling little girls with fabric flowers in their hair, and patted the head of a wide-eyed baby. In his remarks, he said he intends to make the Oct. 7 pilgrimage to a shrine to the Virgin Mary in Pompeii, near Naples.
In Paris on Wednesday, the head of the govening body for the Catholic church in France said John Paul is is "very ill" but still able to lead.
"Things shouldn't be hidden. This pope is very ill," Bishop Stanislas Lalane said on Europe-1 radio. "But I assure you the Church is governed."
Lalane, who heads the Conference of Bishops of France, noted that the pontiff is able to carry out his duties.
"He named some 30 cardinals. He made choices that are truly his own," he said.
Comments by a close papal aide, German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, that the pope was "in a bad way" raised concerns the pope's health might have deteriorated beyond his obvious frailty and difficulty speaking and walking.
The comments, published Tuesday by the German weekly Bunte, were made Sept. 22, the day before John Paul suffered the intestinal illness that prompted him to cancel his weekly audience.
Cardinal Jorge Medina, a Chilean who works at the Vatican, was quoted Wednesday as telling a news Web site he had no information to indicate that the pope was gravely ill.
"Nothing makes one think that he is reflecting on the possibility of resigning," Medina said in an interview with www.terra.cl.
"The pope is affected by his health; however, not to the point that he cannot carry out the most important acts of governing" the Roman Catholic Church, Medina said.
Vittorio Messori, who helped John Paul write the best-selling "Crossing the Threshold of Hope," wrote in Milan daily Corriere della Sera on Wednesday that the pope's decision to continue in the papacy was "irrevocable.'"
The possibility of resignation is "a closed subject," Messori wrote, without citing his sources.
John Paul follows doctors' treatments but won't heed their advice to slow down, Messori said.
The pope will have little time to rest before heading to Pompeii, a small southern town built alongside the ruins of the ancient Roman city.
On Saturday, he holds talks at the Vatican with the Archbishop of Canterbury. On Sunday, in St. Peter's Square, he celebrates Mass in which he will raise three missionaries to sainthood.
Other stamina-testing public appearances on his calendar are: Oct. 16, with an evening Mass marking the 25th anniversary of his election as pope; Oct. 19, with the beatification of Mother Teresa; and Oct. 21, with a ceremony for new cardinals the pope named on Sunday.