ROME - POPE John Paul II was in "really great shape" yesterday, two days after surgery to remove his appendix and officials said he planned to celebrate a public Mass at the Vatican before the end of the month.
"He's in really great shape ... smiling," Prof Attilio Maseri, the Pope's cardiologist, said after visiting the 76 year old Pontiff with other doctors yesterday.
The Pope's personal physician, Dr Renato Buzzonetti, said the Pontiff was taking short strolls in his 10th floor high security suite at Rome's Gemelli Hospital and would remain on a liquid diet for at least the rest of yesterday.