VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II is "progressively improving" and may be able to leave the hospital by Easter, the Vatican said today, a week after the pontiff was rushed to the hospital for a second time in a month.

Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the scar on John Paul's throat from surgery to insert a breathing tube was healing and he wants to return to the Vatican, "but at the same time, he accepts doctors' advice" not to rush back.

"In recent days, the pope has been receiving several of his colleagues with whom he daily follows the activity of the Holy See and the life of the church," Navarro-Valls told reporters.

He said the Vatican would decide on Saturday what the pope's schedule for Sunday would be. The next health update was expected to be given on Monday.

Asked whether the 84-year-old pope might be back at the Vatican in time for Easter celebrations on March 27, Navarro-Valls told The Associated Press: "It's possible."

He said the Vatican was going ahead with its regular Easter schedule and that if the pope was released before the holiday his level of participation would still have to be decided.

"The health of the Holy Father John Paul II continues to improve and show progress," the spokesman said. "As previously stated, the Pope is eating regularly and spends several hours each day in an armchair. The surgical wound is healing."

He said the pope's daily therapy to improve his ability to breathe and speak were continuing "with the active collaboration of the Holy Father."

Navarro-Valls said the pope spends some time in the small chapel adjoining his room.

The Holy See has yet to say when the pope might be discharged from Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic hospital, suggesting doctors are prolonging his stay to enhance his chances of recovering. Some have criticized the Vatican for discharging the pope too early after he suffered an earlier respiratory crisis on Feb. 1.

"There's no precise date yet. I wouldn't want to put forth a likely date because it might change in a positive or negative way," Navarro-Valls said.

The Vatican has sought to portray John Paul's condition in a positive light, emphasizing the visitors he has seen and suggesting an August trip to Cologne, Germany, for World Youth Day is still on.

Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne said Wednesday he still expects to see John Paul in mid-August at the event, which gathers young people from around the world and is among the pope's most beloved spectacles. The Vatican has also encouraged the idea the pope will make the journey if his health permits.

"It's not important that the pope speak with the many, many young people, but it's his presence that's important," Meisner said following a visit with the pope at the hospital. "The person of the Holy Father speaks a lot."

World Youth Day is the only foreign stop on this year's schedule for the pope, who has made 104 international trips in his 26-year papacy but has drastically cut back on travel the past few years.

The pope's ability to endure the rigors of a trip depend on his latest recovery, which is complicated by Parkinson's disease, which causes gradual loss of muscle control. The pope also suffers from crippling hip and knee ailments.

The pope was taken by ambulance to Gemelli with breathing spasms on Feb. 1 and was released on Feb. 10 only to be rushed back again on Feb. 24 for a throat operation that left him with a breathing tube and facing extensive speech and respiratory therapy. On Monday, the Vatican said the pope was suffering no complications, was eating regularly and was spending a few hours a day in an armchair.

"Doctors give us encouraging news, but we need to wait," Cardinal Achille Silvestrini was quoted as saying in the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Ambassadors to the Vatican from several Latin American countries went to the hospital Thursday to pay their respects and inquire about the pope's well being. They did not see John Paul.

"We brought the affection and greetings of our people," Mexican envoy Javier Moctezuma Barragan said.