From staff and wire reports

                  MIAMI -- Lawyers for the Miami relatives of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez are
                  moving ahead with plans to file a federal petition aimed at eventually obtaining
                  political asylum for the Cuban boy.

                  Meanwhile, in Vatican City, Cuban Foreign Minister Filipe Perez Roque said
                  Monday he discussed Elian's plight with Pope John Paul II.

                  Sources have told CNN the lawyers for Elian's U.S. relatives now expect to
                  file their petition by midweek. Originally, they had said they intended to file
                  Tuesday.

                  The attorneys are expected to ask for a federal political asylum hearing for the
                  boy, who survived an escape voyage from Cuba last year that killed his
                  mother and stepfather. Elian was found clinging to an inner tube off the
                  Florida coast November 25.

                  Youngster enjoys school holiday

                  On Monday, Elian had a day off from school due to the Martin Luther King
                  holiday. The boy spent the day playing outside the home of his great-uncle,
                  where he has been staying since his rescue.

                  The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service has ruled that Elian's father,
                  who lives in communist Cuba, is his legal guardian and that the boy must be
                  returned to his custody.

                  But a Florida family court judge's ruling last week flew in the face of the INS
                  ruling, declaring Elian's great-uncle as his temporary guardian until a full court
                  hearing in March.

                  In a bid to block Elian's repatriation, Sen. Jesse Helms, R-North Carolina, has
                  vowed to introduce a bill in Congress that would grant Elian immediate U.S.
                  citizenship.

                  Pope withholds comment on controversy

                  Roque, on tour of Italy, France, the Netherlands and Russia, said he was
                  trying to rally international support for Elian's return to his Cuban father, Juan
                  Miguel Gonzalez.

                  "If the boy was from Haiti, he would have been sent back immediately. If he
                  was Mexican, they would have thrown him over the wall between the United
                  States and Mexico," Roque said. "If it were any other country, this would not
                  be happening."

                  During an audience Monday with the pope, Roque said he talked about "how
                  Elian is being kept separated from his father, something the pope was very
                  worried about."

                  Roque said he did not ask the pontiff to intervene in the situation. And he
                  declined to say whether the pope agreed that Elian should be sent back to
                  Cuba.

                  "It's a question of the separation of families that has been a great concern of
                  His Holiness," the foreign minister said.

                  The Vatican's communiqué on the meeting made no mention of Elian. A
                  Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said later that there would be
                  no comment about Roque's remarks.

                  Roque also met Monday with Italian Premier Massimo D'Alema, who made
                  no public statement about the case.

                           The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.