VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II spoke with a top Vatican official in German and Italian today, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said, suggesting the ailing pontiff was making significant strides toward recovery after throat surgery to ease a breathing crisis.

Ratzinger told reporters that John Paul, 84, used both languages in a working meeting at Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic hospital.

The Holy See, however, said that John Paul's normal Wednesday audience, in which he blesses the faithful at the Vatican, would not be held by the pope or by a stand-in.

But even as the Vatican insists the pontiff's recovery is proceeding uneventfully, Parkinson's specialists said the debilitating neurological disease may well figure in more breathing crises for the pontiff.

The Vatican has offered few details on the pope's condition or said when he might be able to leave the hospital.

"The Holy Father is eating regularly, spends some hours in an armchair and has begun exercises to rehabilitate breathing and phonation," said the latest Vatican medical communique.