VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II is likely to be released from the hospital in time for Holy Week services that begin with Palm Sunday on March 20, the Vatican said today, adding that the pope's breathing tube remains in place.

Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the pope has suffered no complications since Feb. 24 surgery to insert the tube in his windpipe. But he said doctors have cautioned John Paul not to use his voice too much to ensure he makes a complete recovery.

Navarro-Valls said doctors would decide when the tube could be removed. He said that once the 84-year-old pontiff is back at the Vatican, he and church officials would determine his participation in the week of services leading up to Easter on March 27.

"The general conditions of the Holy Father continue to improve, which allows the pope to spend long periods of the day in an armchair," the Vatican's latest medical bulletin said.

"No complications have arisen because of the tracheotomy surgery. Continual improvement can also be seen in speaking, thanks to the daily rehabilitation," it said. But it added that "doctors have prescribed a prudent limitation in the pope's use of his voice so as to promote a better recuperation of the function of the larynx."