VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican says Pope Francis, who was recently hospitalized for bronchitis, won’t preside over Good Friday’s late-night Way of the Cross event due to extremely cold weather in Rome.
It said that instead of presiding over the torch-lit procession at the Colosseum, Francis will watch from the hotel where he lives in the Vatican.
He will still attend the earlier Passion of the Lord celebration at St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican added. There, the cross will be unveiled before it goes to the Colosseum for the procession.
In this picture made available by Vatican Media Pope Francis washes the feet of the inmates of Rome’s penitentiary of Casal del Marmo, Thursday, April 6, 2023. In a Holy Thursday ritual symbolizing humility, Pope Francis washed and wiped dry the bare feet of a dozen residents of a Rome juvenile prison, assuring them of their dignity and telling them “any of us” can fall into sin. (Vatican Media handout via AP)
Francis, 86, was discharged from a Rome hospital on Saturday following treatment for bronchitis. The Vatican said at the time that he would carry out the complete Holy Week schedule, including the Way of the Cross procession and Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square.
On Thursday, he presided over Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and later washed and dried the feet of a dozen residents of a Rome juvenile prison in a ritual symbolizing humility.
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