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Pope Francis for a short time does not lead the New Year's Eve mass in St. Peter's Basilica

2021-12-31T18:34:27.393Z


Francis preached the sermon at the New Year's Eve service in the Vatican, but handed over the management of the mass to Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re at short notice. The reasons were initially unclear.


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Pope Francis in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican

Photo:

Andrew Medichini / dpa

Pope Francis gave up at short notice to lead the solemn service on New Year's Eve in St. Peter's Basilica.

The 85-year-old head of the Catholic Church attended the mass and gave the sermon.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re was in charge of the thanksgiving vespers with the traditional hymn of praise »Te Deum«.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni announced after the mass that Francis only wanted to preach the sermon, but leave the management of the celebration to Cardinal Re.

The exact reasons for the change remained unclear, which apparently took place at very short notice: Only a few minutes before the start of the celebration, Francis' chair was moved to another place in St. Peter's Basilica a little to the side of the altar.

From there, the Pope watched Vespers for the most part while seated.

Francis called for solidarity and charity

In his sermon, for which the pontiff went to the pulpit in front of the altar, Francis urged the faithful to show more solidarity and charity in the pandemic.

After all people felt like they were in the same boat in the first phase of the Corona period, many later lived according to the motto: "Save yourself if you can".

The Pope had already canceled a visit to the Christmas crib on St. Peter's Square, originally planned for after Vespers, on Thursday.

He wanted to avoid crowds in the corona crisis, it said.

Whether Francis will celebrate the Eucharist for the feast of Our Lady Mary in St. Peter's Basilica on New Year's Day was initially open.

ngo / dpa / Reuters

Source: spiegel

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