FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Vatican officials say Pope John Paul II may have to cut back on his travels due to his frail health. The pontiff may drop Mexico and Guatemala from his scheduled trips to the Americas this summer, but the Vatican says there are no plans to cancel confirmed trips. The pope just ended a visit to Azerbaijan and Bulgaria, but not without a difficult time. CNN's Alessio Vinci has the story.</s>ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It took Pope John Paul II a lot of effort to complete the trip. During his final open- air mass in Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second largest city and home to this country's Catholic majority, he could barely keep his body up. He can no longer walk unassisted, moving around on a platform, pushed by aides. His speech slurred and difficult to understand. As in the past few days, he could not muster the strength to read all of</s>JOAQUIN NAVARRO-VALLS, VATICAN SPOKESMAN: His memory, his capacity for planning toward the future, his sense of humor, everything of this is absolutely intact.</s>VINCI: Vatican officials also say the pope will not resign, drawing his energy from the outpouring of affection wherever he goes, including where Catholics are a small minority. Thousands of non-Catholics came to streets to greet him, pushed by ferocity routed in religious zeal. On his first leg of the trip to former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan, the pope met all of the 120 Catholics there, prompting one observer to notice, "it would have been easier to fly them to the Vatican instead." Alessio Vinci, CNN, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Pope's Travel Plans May Be Curtailed Due to Weak Health