VATICAN CITY — Pope John Paul II made a surprise appearance at his hospital window to bless well-wishers, and the Vatican said the pope was continuing to recover well from a tracheotomy to relieve breathing problems.

The pope was eating regularly, spending hours sitting up in a chair and was beginning rehabilitation exercises for breathing and speaking, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a statement Feb. 28.

"The Holy Father's postoperative phase is taking place without complications. His general condition and biological parameters continue to be good," Navarro-Valls said.

On Feb. 27, the pope missed his Sunday Angelus blessing for the first time in his pontificate. A Vatican official read the pope's message instead from the steps of St. Peter's Basilica, after asking prayers for the pope's health.

But as soon as the Angelus ended, the curtains were drawn in the pope's 10th-floor hospital room at Rome's Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, and the white-robed pontiff was wheeled into view.

The pope waved, blessed the crowd several times and then moved his hand to his throat, where a bandage covered the surgical wound. The one-minute appearance heartened a small crowd gathered on the hospital grounds that included youths from Spain who held a banner reading, "Your Holiness, never give up!"

The images of the pope at his window were broadcast on Italian TV but were not relayed to St. Peter's Square, where several thousand people had assembled to pray for the 84-year-old pontiff.

The pope looked a little stiff but alert and in relatively good form. At his side stood Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state, as a Vatican photographer took pictures a few feet away.

Afterward, Dr. Rodolfo Proietti, the pope's chief doctor at Gemelli hospital, expressed his satisfaction to reporters with the brief phrase: "Better than this ... ." The idiom in Italian implied the pope's progress could not be better.

Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, an assistant secretary of state, told pilgrims in St. Peter's Square that the pope was "offering up his suffering for the entire world."

"Let us pray with him and for him," he said. Giant TV screens scattered throughout the square showed a more youthful, vibrant image of the pope.

The pope's message, which Archbishop Sandri read, asked the faithful to keep him in their prayers and thanked everyone for their expressions of concern and affection.

He said Lent teaches "the value of suffering which, in one way or another, touches us all." By understanding Christ and his message, people can come to realize that every form of pain carries with it the promise of salvation, he said.

"I would like this message of comfort and hope to reach all people, especially those experiencing moments of difficulty, and those suffering in body and spirit," the papal message said.

The pope was taken by ambulance to Gemelli for the second time in a month Feb. 24 after a recurrence of breathing problems caused by throat spasms, initially brought on by the flu. He had the 30-minute tracheotomy later that evening.

On Feb. 25, the Vatican issued a reassuring medical bulletin, saying the pope was already eating well and breathing more comfortably. The pope had not had a fever or respiratory infection and had not needed to be put on a respirator, the Vatican said.

Doctors told the pope not to speak for several days to favor the healing of his larynx, the source of the breathing problems. The tracheotomy, which the pope personally agreed to, aimed to increase the amount of air moving in the respiratory system, to favor healing the inflamed larynx, the Vatican said.

Papal spokesman Navarro-Valls said that shortly after surgery the pope took a sheet of paper and wrote, in a light vein: "What have they done to me?" and then wrote below it: "I am still 'Totus tuus' (totally yours)." That was a reference to his motto, which dedicates his life and ministry to Mary.

Over the weekend, visitors came to the hospital and paid a call at the pope's suite of rooms. Many were met by Vatican protocol officials, while others saw and spoke to the pope.

Among the visitors was Cardinal Bernard F. Law, former archbishop of Boston and now archpriest at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. He left the hospital without speaking to reporters.

Colombian Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, also stopped by to see the pope and said afterward that he found "a great serenity" in the pontiff.

The Spanish youths that gathered below the pope's window Feb. 27 sang a hymn, "Spain Is Walking With You," and chanted get-well wishes for the pope.

Medical experts consider a tracheotomy a fairly routine operation, but given the pope's age and his frail condition the recovery period was expected to be longer than usual.

Insertion of a tracheotomy tube can be temporary or permanent. One Vatican source said he expected the tube to be left in to make it easier to deal with potential breathing problems in the future.

The tracheotomy compromises the pope's ability to speak. Dr. Fabrizio Stocchi, a neurological expert in Rome who has been consulted in the past about the pope's condition, told Catholic News Service that the pope could talk again if the tracheotomy tube is closed, even temporarily, allowing air to pass through the vocal cords. But the voice level would be lower and making speeches would be difficult, he said.

The Vatican said Feb. 28 that the next medical bulletin on the pope's condition was expected March 3. The Vatican gave no indication when the pope might be able to leave the hospital.