Despite improved health, pope picks cardinals to lead Holy Week liturgies

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis is going without supplemental oxygen for longer periods and is continuing therapy to recover his voice and to recover his physical strength, the Vatican press office said, but he also is increasing the number of private meetings he is holding with the heads of Vatican offices.

Briefing reporters April 15, Tuesday of Holy Week, the most liturgically significant and busy week of the year, the Vatican press office did not say if Pope Francis would attend any of the liturgies, but it announced the names of the cardinals delegated by the pope to preside over the chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion April 18 and the Way of the Cross at Rome’s Colosseum that night.

The pope asked Italian Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, retired president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, to lead the morning chrism Mass April 17. While the parish of St. Peter’s Basilica has its own Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the pope usually celebrates the evening Mass with the foot-washing rite “privately” at a prison or detention facility; the press office said it had no information about what the pope would do this year.

Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches, was chosen by the pope to lead the Good Friday liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Vatican’s long custom is that the preacher of the papal household, now Capuchin Father Roberto Pasolini, preaches at the liturgy.

Pope Francis asked Cardinal Baldassare Reina, his vicar for the Diocese of Rome, to lead the Via Crucis at the Colosseum that night. Pope Francis prepared the text of the meditations, the press office said.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside over the Easter vigil Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica April 19, the press office said April 16.

Cardinal Angelo Comastri, retired archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, will be the main celebrant of the Easter morning Mass in St. Peter’s Square April 20, it said.

As of April 16, the Vatican had not said how the traditional Easter blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) would be handled.

The 88-year-old pope, who was released from Rome’s Gemelli hospital March 23 after 38 days of treatment, spent two weeks in his rooms in the Domus Sanctae Marthae before making any public appearances. Then he arrived briefly at the end of Masses in St. Peter’s Square April 6 and April 13, visited St. Peter’s Basilica April 10 and the Basilica of St. Mary Major April 12.