VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope John Paul II will extend his hospital stay “a few more days” but still plans to return to the Vatican in time for the start of Holy Week that begins on Palm Sunday on March 20, his spokesman said Thursday.

No date had been given for the pontiff’s return, but the announcement appeared to suggest there may have been an earlier plan to release him, but it was dropped to give him more time to regain his strength.

“The pope would like to come back to the Vatican as soon as possible but accepts his doctors’ advice,” papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters two weeks after the 84-year-old pope was rushed back to the hospital with his second breathing crisis in a month.

“The pope will spend the Holy Week at the Vatican – that is confirmed,” Navarro-Valls said.

He stressed that extending the hospital stay was not a sign of problems, noting that the Vatican’s latest medical bulletin said the pope’s convalescence was “progressing regularly.” He told reporters there was nothing in particular that was being done for John Paul at the hospital that could not be handled at the Vatican.

The hospital stay, Navarro-Valls said, “involves completing the phase of convalescence, not a phase of therapy.”

The next medical bulletin is scheduled for Monday.

Navarro-Valls said John Paul was speaking and would make another appearance at a hospital window Sunday, but that it was not known whether his voice would be strong enough to greet the faithful.

“The Holy Father, following the advice of his doctors, will extend his stay in the Gemelli Polyclinic by a few more days, in order to complete his convalescence which is progressing regularly,” Navarro-Valls said.

Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday and culminates with Easter a week later. The Vatican has said the pope plans to give his traditional blessings on Easter, his only commitment so far. The pope has delegated various cardinals to preside over the events, but has not named anyone for the Way of the Cross procession at the Colosseum on Good Friday evening, an indication he may want to appear himself.

John Paul has been recovering at Gemelli from Feb. 24 surgery to insert a tube into his windpipe to help him breathe. He has been undergoing breathing and speech therapy, the Vatican says.

“For now the tube stays in, then the doctors will decide,” Navarro-Valls said.

“The Holy Father keeps receiving his aides at the hospital, with whom he follows the activity of the Holy See and the life of the church,” he said.

Roman Catholic pilgrims around the world had hoped the Vatican would set a discharge date on Thursday. The faithful have been gathering by the hundreds beneath his 10th-floor hospital suite.

On Thursday, a group of 24 students from Westminster School in Atlanta, who are in Rome for their spring break and are members of the school choir, visited the hospital and sang religious schools beneath his windows.

“We came over here and we all knew the pope was sick and we wanted to do something special for him,” said Hill Jeffries, 18. “We all thought the best way to cheer him up would be to sing something for him. We wish him all the best.”

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Associated Press writer Aidan Lewis contributed to this report.