Pope Francis was expected to attend the Easter Mass at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City on Sunday, but the service was delivered by a high-ranking cardinal as the pontiff recovers from double pneumonia.
Tens of thousands of Catholic Church followers crowded into the square for the Mass, presided over by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, to mark Easter Sunday, the highlight of the Christian calendar.
What has the Vatican said?
The Vatican’s press service said Francis would likely be present at the open-air Easter service but that his participation would depend on his health.
News agencies reported that Francis had delegated the reading of his Easter Mass to Comastri, the retired archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica.
The Mass, which commemorates the Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, will be attended by some 300 cardinals, bishops and priests.
Francis is more likely to deliver the “Urbi et Orbi” blessing from a balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square at midday, local time (1000 GMT/UTC), according to reports.
How is the pope’s health?
The 88-year-old left Rome’s Gemelli Hospital four weeks ago after spending more than a month in the hospital.
However, doctors say he still needs more time to recover following his life-threatening illness.
The pope’s voice remains weak, despite improvements in his breathing. He has appeared in public twice over the last week without the nasal cannula that delivered oxygen.
Francis, who is the leader of the world’s more than 1.4 billion Catholics, missed the majority of Holy Week events for the first time since his election in 2013.
They include Friday’s Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum and Saturday’s Easter vigil at Saint Peter’s Basilica, where he delegated his duties to cardinals.
He also missed the traditional foot-washing ritual on Thursday, which is meant to imitate Jesus Christ washing his disciples’ feet.
Francis did, however, make a brief appearance at St. Peter’s on Saturday to greet visitors.
A million pilgrims in Rome
This year, the Easter festival holds even more significance because the Catholic Church has declared 2025 a Jubilee or holy year.
During such a year, pilgrims are encouraged to travel to Rome, and travel through the doors of the four major basilicas — St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls and St. Mary Major.
This weekend alone, an estimated 1 million visitors are in the city, including believers from all over the world.
Among them is US Vice President JD Vance. He converted to the Catholic faith in 2019 and plans to attend Easter Mass with his family.
Vance held talks on Saturday with the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
The meeting followed a spat between Francis and the Trump administration over its efforts to deport thousands of undocumented migrants from the US.
Edited by Sean Sinico
