VATICAN CITY, Holy See: Pope Francis attended the Easter Vigil service at the Vatican on Saturday, but questions about his health resurfaced a day later when his appearance at a large Good Friday procession was canceled at the last minute.
The 87-year-old Pope entered St. Peter’s Basilica to preside over the Easter Mass in front of thousands of pilgrims from around the world.
Pope Francis arrived in a white robe in a wheelchair just before the two-hour service, a day after canceling his participation in the Stations of the Cross (“Via Crucis”) ceremony.
The Vatican had confirmed the presence of the Pope on the same day.
After the light ceremony in the cathedral was plunged into darkness to symbolize Christ’s passing from death to life, Francis was to preach and then baptize eight adults.
Sunday’s Easter service followed by the “Urbi e Orbi” blessing will be broadcast live around the world.
After the rite of light in a basilica plunged into darkness to symbolise the passage from death to life of Christ, the pontiff was to deliver the homily and then baptise eight adults.
A day earlier (Friday), the Vatican had said in a brief statement that to preserve Pope’s health ahead of today’s (Saturday) vigil and the Easter Sunday mass, the pontiff will in the evening follow the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum from the Santa Marta Residence”, where he resides.
The last-minute decision and the lack of detail in the statement fueled the doubts about the pope’s health and questions as to how long he can continue to lead the Catholic Church and its around 1.3 billion followers.
The pope had also cancelled his participation in the “Via Crucis” last year, but that followed a three-day hospitalization for bronchitis.
Holy Week is a pillar of the Catholic calendar, having a series of ceremonies leading up to Easter Sunday itself.
The Argentinian Jesuit had recently ruled out resignation saying he did “not have any cause serious enough to make me think of resigning”. Resignation is a “distant possibility” that would be justified only in the event of “a serious physical impediment”, he wrote in a recently published memoir.
