Pope Getting Back To Work After Flu

After a bout with the flu, Pope John Paul II will return to Rome to give his customary Sunday noon blessing to the public, the Vatican said.

Fever and nausea caused by the flu forced the 75-year-old pontiff to skip Christmas Day Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and to cut short his traditional holiday greetings to crowds in St. Peter’s Square.

But the Vatican said Saturday the pope would address the crowd in the square on Sunday. Later on Sunday, he was scheduled to lead a traditional New Year’s Eve service in a Rome church.

On Monday, John Paul is to officiate at New Year’s Day Mass in the basilica.

John Paul has been at his vacation retreat in the hills southeast of Rome since Wednesday.