VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis will not direct New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day services because of a relief in his sciatica condition, which causes pain in his right leg, the Vatican said Thursday.
It was believed that this is the first time since he became pope in 2013 that Francis, who turned 84 this month, will have jumped at leading a major papal event for health reasons.
An end-of-year vespers service that the pope was to officiate on Thursday afternoon will be led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, and Friday’s Mass, marking the Day of Peace of the Catholic Church, will be said by Cardinal Pietro Parolin , secretary of the Vatican state.
Both the vespers and the mass must be the main signifier standing for most of the service.
The pope, however, will conduct his noon prayer Friday as scheduled, the Vatican said.
Due to coronavirus restrictions in Italy, both the vespers and the mass are kept from a high altar in St. Louis. Peter’s Basilica with just about 200 people instead of the 10,000 the basilica holds.
Francis suffers from sciatica, a condition that causes pain that radiates from the lower back across the sciatic nerve to the lower part of the body.
He is sometimes seen walking with difficulty due to the pain and receiving regular physical therapy due to the condition.
In March this year, a bad cold kept him from taking part in a week-long Lenten retreat with his elders south of Rome.
In 2014, a year after his election as pope, Francis had to resign several duties due to what was believed to be a stomach illness.
That year he also jumped in a Lenten march due to leg pain.
But his health has generally been good since he was elected.
Last week, he attended Christmas Eve Mass and the next day read the “Urbi et Orbi” Christmas Day message (to the city and to the world) while standing, both some without obvious problems.
His latest look was at a general audience Wednesday, held almost in the Vatican because of the pandemic. There, too, he showed no obvious problems, though he sits at the audience.
This story was published from a wire group group with no text changes.