Pope has influenza

Pope John Paul is suffering from influenza and has cancelled his audiences for at least yesterday, but the Vatican said there was no cause for alarm.

"Because of the symptoms of influenza, which began yesterday, the Holy Father has been advised to suspend his private audiences for today," chief Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a statement.

The 84-year-old Pope, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and no longer walks in public, was nonetheless well enough to be given the first copy of the 2005 edition of the Vatican yearbook in his private apartments, the spokesman said.

The Italian capital has had unusually cold weather in recent weeks and the city has had an outbreak of influenza.

"He has joined the other millions of Italians who have the flu," Mr Navarro-Valls told Reuters, adding that the Pope had "a slight fever that is no cause for worry".

The Vatican did not say how long the Pope's audiences, public or private, would be suspended. He receives a stream of vistors privately every day and makes at least two public appearances a week.

"It will be decided on a day-to-day basis," Mr Navarro-Valls said.

The Pope's next scheduled public appearance is tomorrow, when he is due to preside at a general audience in the morning and a prayer service in St Peter's Basilica in the afternoon.

During his last public appearance, on Sunday in St Peter's Square, the Pope spoke in a hoarse voice.

The last time Pope John Paul had to cancel an audience at the last minute was in September 2003, when his weekly Wednesday general audience was scrapped because he was suffering from an intestinal ailment.

A bout of influenza forced him to miss Christmas Mass for the first time in his pontificate in 1995.