VATICAN CITY - Ailing Pope John Paul II missed out on the Ash Wednesday prayers that ushered in the solemn and sacred Lenten season - a wistful first in his 26-year papacy.

Though the Vatican says the 84-year-old pope's health continues to improve since he was rushed to the hospital Feb. 1 with breathing spasms and the flu, doctors have persuaded him to prolong his stay to be on the safe side. His eighth night in the hospital passed calmly, the ANSA news agency said early today.

In services later at St. Peter's Basilica, American Cardinal James Stafford presided in the name of John Paul - an unavoidable but no doubt reluctant substitution for a pope deeply stirred by the traditional period of penitence, sacrifice and reflection that culminates with Easter.

John Paul is expected to remain in the hospital at least until Thursday, when the Holy See issues its next medical update.

Ash Wednesday traditionally kicks off a few weeks of spiritual reflection for the pope ahead of the taxing Holy Week services, which culminate with Easter on March 27.

With the pope in such frail health, it remained unclear whether he would be able to preside over the traditional March 25 Good Friday prayer service at the Colosseum re-enacting Christ's Passion.

The pope's long struggle with Parkinson's disease and crippling hip and knee ailments have many Roman Catholics questioning how long he can continue to serve. The Vatican's No. 2 official, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, caused a stir this week by publicly suggesting for the first time that the Vatican may be discussing the sensitive issue.

Popes may resign but cannot be forced to do so, and John Paul repeatedly has said he has no intention of abdicating. The last time a pope willingly resigned was in the 13th century.

On Tuesday, the prefect of a Vatican tribunal said the pope would still be able to run the church even if he reached the point where he couldn't speak.

"It is sufficient that one's will be expressed, and be expressed in a clear way," the official, Cardinal Mario Francesco Pompedda, told the newspaper La Stampa. "It can be expressed very well through writing, and in any case can be expressed also with clear and significant gestures."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in Rome to meet with Italy's foreign minister and Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state, "expressed best wishes for a swift recovery of His Holiness" in the name of U.S. President George W. Bush and the American people, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters.

The Rev. Miroslav Droszdek, a Polish priest, said he visited John Paul briefly in his room Tuesday, although the pope did not speak.

"Outside of the spoken word there is the language of the heart and the language of faith," Droszdek said. "It is enough ... in this way we understand each other."