Avalanche of cards and flowers for Pope

ROME - From inmates in prisons he has visited to diplomats from some of the few countries he has never visited, get-well gifts and messages have been pouring into a Rome hospital for Pope John Paul II.

The good wishes started flooding Gemelli last week, when pilgrims from John Paul's native Poland brought red and white flowers in the colours of their flag.

Hard to miss was the nearly 2m-tall arrangement of roses in yellow and white, the official colours of the Vatican, which were sent last week by the Libyan Embassy. Libya is one of the few nations that the Pope hasn't toured in his papal globetrotting, which has taken him to 104 countries.

Hospital staff quickly dispatched overflow floral arrangements to Rome churches. During one of the Pontiff's earlier times in hospital bouquets piled up so fast there was no room to sit on the couch in the hospital's VIP room.

Libya's and Qatar's flowers decorated the hospital chapel.

Some of the gifts and messages evoke significant moments in his papacy, such as the ones brought by a prisoner in the name of two Roman prisons, Regina Coeli and Rebibbia.

The prisoner, whom officials didn't identify, carried a harp fashioned out of matchsticks by prisoners and a wood carving of a tiny boot to remind John Paul of his hiking days.

John Paul visited Regina Coeli in 2000 to repeat his appeal for clemency for prisoners worldwide.

In 1983, he went to Rebibbia to forgive Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who shot him in St Peter's Square two years earlier, sending him gravely wounded to Gemelli. Agca sent a get-well wish of his own, in childlike handwriting in Italian.

* The Vatican says those wanting to send wishes to the Pope should mail them to: John Paul II, His Holiness, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City 10020.