"The government wasn't worried about my hunger, it was worried about the national and international repercussion of this," Cappio told Reuters as he sipped a coconut juice after ending the fast he began on Sept. 26. "It was an immense victory and we've got to pressure the government to do what it promised."

Lula reached a deal with Cappio after his protest provoked national debate of a scheme meant to guarantee water to 12 million people in towns and farming regions across four states in Brazil's drought-stricken northeast.

The Vatican sent its ambassador in Brazil, Lorenzo Baldisseri, to Cabrobo to help end the fast in a rare intervention in domestic issues.

"His (Baldisseri's) presence created a certain intimidating factor for the government," said Cappio, resting at Cabrobo's parish home surrounded by relieved family members.

The bishop had vowed to starve himself to death unless Lula abandoned the project to siphon water from the Sao Francisco River. He said it would benefit rich farmers rather than millions of poor families who live among scrub and cacti.

Lula's envoy, Political Coordination Minister Jaques Wagner, spent five hours negotiating with Cappio on Thursday at the small chapel on the banks of the Sao Francisco where the bishop was fasting.

Wagner said the government would not abandon the project. Lula agreed to a national debate on a project described as both the savior of the northeast and a grandiose, vote-winning folly since first planned by Emperor Dom Pedro II in 1856.

The government said it would discuss modifications to help poor rural families and pledged 6 billion reais ($2.6 billion) to restore the health of the polluted Sao Francisco. Cappio expected Lula now will have to abandon his original plan due to public pressure.

His protest was a further headache for Lula after a 4-month-old government vote-buying scandal badly harmed his 2006 re-election chances.

Cappio drew attention to the fact that about 70 percent of diverted water would be for economic use, such as production of farm exports like shrimp and grapes, and only 4 percent for people who live among the badlands.

Lula promotes the scheme as a means to create jobs and stop the millions of poor families leaving the northeast for the wealthier South -- as his did when he was a boy.

Brazil's Catholic church has criticized Lula for economic policies it says help business and investors rather than the poor. Its leaders opposed the water diversion plan.