Hours after Pope John Paul II was hospitalized with a recurrence of the flu, doctors performed a successful tracheotomy to ease the ailing pontiff's breathing, a Vatican spokesman said late Thursday.

The operation, an incision into the windpipe, took about 30 minutes and ended, without complications, at 8:50 p.m., a Vatican official said. The pope reportedly gave his consent for the procedure.

"He's fine, and he's tranquil," said Gianna Letta, under-secretary for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. "The doctors are satisfied with the way he has undergone the surgery."

Letta called the atmosphere at Gemelli Hospital in Rome "very calm" but said the doctors would spend the night in the hospital to be near their patient.

The pope was brought to the hospital earlier Thursday, less than two weeks after he had been released from the facility after a nine-day stay from complications of the flu.

A Polish priest close to the pope, interviewed on Polish TVN television during its 7 p.m. newscast, sought to reassure viewers.

"This is not a terminal illness," the Rev. Conrad Hejno, a Dominican friar, said from Rome.

He added that people should "get used to" the fact the pope may be taken periodically to the hospital.

The pope was taken to the hospital by ambulance Thursday. Officials said the pontiff had suffered fresh breathing difficulties and had a fever.

A tracheotomy is a routine operation that typically requires general anesthesia, but can be a risky procedure for elderly patients in fragile health, as the pope is.

"It's not the operation itself that is the concern, it's the anesthesia," said CNN senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. "That's a bigger risk than the operation."

A tracheotomy is typically not the first line of therapy in this type of situation, Gupta said. Placement of an endotracheal tube -- a tube down the throat -- is usually tried first, he said.

"It could be that the area of the trachea between where the incision would be and the mouth is too inflamed."

After the tracheotomy, it would be expected that he would not be able to speak for some time, and he would likely be put on a ventilator, Gupta said.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the pontiff, who had been released from the hospital just 13 days ago after a nine-day stay, began feeling ill Wednesday, his fever returned and he was taken to the hospital for "specialized treatment" and "further assessment."

President Bush, flying home from a European trip, said, "The Holy Father is in our thoughts and prayers, and we wish him a speedy recovery and return to the service of his church and all humanity."

Source: Agencies