Pope's Improvement "Striking," Says Official

After a visit to the Gemelli Polyclinic, Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said that John Paul II's improvement is "striking."

Fini, who was in the Pope's hospital suite for more than a half-hour today, mentioned Vatican spokesman Joaquín Navarro Valls' press statement in which the latter said that the Holy Father's convalescence is proceeding without complications after his tracheotomy last Thursday.