After bronchitis, cold weather forces pope to skip outdoor service

By Philip Pullella and Crispian Balmer

ROME (Reuters) -Pope Francis presided at one indoor service on Good Friday, but doctors ordered him to skip an outdoor evening “Way of the Cross” procession at Rome’s Colosseum after being hospitalised last week for bronchitis.

Francis was following the service from his residence in the Vatican as a precaution after the temperature fell in Italy in recent days and a light snow fell on Rome’s outskirts on Thursday.

The temperature in Rome was expected to fall to about 10 degrees Celsius (50 F) on Friday evening. It was warmer during the past Christmas season.

During the traditional service the 86-year-old pope usually sits outdoors near the upper section of the Colosseum, which can become windy, while participants process holding a cross, mostly around the base of ancient monument.

They stop to pray and hear meditations at the 14 “Stations of the Cross”, which commemorate the events in the last hours of the life of Jesus starting with his arrest, proceeding through his crucifixion and ending with his burial.

This year’s meditations collected comments that migrants, refugees and victims of war or human trafficking made to the pope at various events during his travels or at the Vatican over the past year. Two speakers read them to a crowd of about 20,000 people holding candles.

One meditation was a compilation of comments from a Ukrainian boy and a Russian boy. The Ukrainian boy had been a refugee in Italy for a time, and the Russian boy’s older brother, a soldier, was killed in the war.

Francis spent four days in hospital for treatment of bronchitis, recovered quickly with antibiotic therapy and resumed public activities last Sunday.

Friday marked the first time since his election in 2013 that Francis missed a Way of the Cross event. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was moved to the Vatican and held in a slimmed-down version, but Francis presided.

The last pope to skip a Good Friday Way of the Cross service was Pope John Paul II. Failing health prevented him from leaving the Vatican in the last weeks of his life in 2005.

Earlier on Friday, Francis sat through an afternoon “Passion of the Lord” service in St. Peter’s Basilica, listening to three cantors and a choir recount in Latin the last hours in the life of Jesus.

He also heard a sermon by the preacher of the papal household. As is customary at such liturgies, he did not deliver a homily. Francis showed no sign of discomfort, although he coughed several times during the service.

The pope, who appeared fine at two services on Thursday, usually makes impromptu remarks to thousands of people at the end of the Good Friday procession at the Colosseum.

The Vatican did not announce any changes to the rest of the pope’s Holy Week schedule.

He is due to preside at an Easter vigil Mass on Saturday night in St. Peter’s Basilica, and on Easter Sunday he is due to say Mass in St. Peter’s Square and then deliver his twice-annual “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing and message in St. Peter’s Square.

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