VATICAN CITY, March 30 — Pope Francis pulled out of yesterday’s Way of the Cross ceremony at the last minute, with the Vatican saying he wished to “protect his well being” forward of different Easter occasions this weekend.
The 87-year-old’s armchair had been set out on the hill dealing with the Colosseum in Rome, however was withdrawn because the announcement got here simply moments earlier than the Good Friday ceremony.
“To protect his well being forward of tomorrow’s vigil and the Easter Sunday mass, Pope Francis will this night comply with the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum from the Santa Marta Residence,” the Vatican mentioned in an announcement.
The pope missed last 12 months’s open-air ceremony, which passed off shortly after he was launched from three nights in hospital with bronchitis.
Francis last month caught what the Vatican referred to as a “mild flu” that prompted him to cancel some occasions, and he has on a number of events since requested others to learn his speeches.
The armchair of Pope Francis is eliminated after the Vatican introduced the Pope won’t come to the Colosseum to preside the Way of the Cross (Via Crucis) as half of the Holy Week celebrations in Rome March 29, 2024. — eNM pic
Thousands of individuals had turned out for yesterday night’s ceremony, many of them holding candles of their hand, in a single of the highlights of Holy Week main as much as Easter.
For the primary time since changing into pope, Francis himself wrote the texts to be learn out at every of the 14 so-called Stations of the Cross, which symbolise Christ’s journey from demise sentence to crucifixion.
On Sunday, the Argentine is because of preside over the Easter mass in St Peter’s Square within the Vatican earlier than giving the “Urbi et Orbi” handle.
Pope Francis, who had half of a lung eliminated in his youth, was pressured to cancel a go to to COP28 UN local weather talks in Dubai in December after a bout of flu-like signs.
The pontiff, who took over as head of the Catholic Church in 2013, has suffered a quantity of well being points in recent times, from knee and hip ache to an infected colon and hernia surgical procedure last June. — eNM
