Vatican says cardinals to celebrate Holy Week liturgies as Pope Francis’ health improves

Pope Francis kisses the foot of one of the 12 women whose feet he washed at the Rebibbia Women’s Prison in Rome on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Apr 15, 2025 / 10:38 am (CNA).

For Holy Week, Pope Francis has delegated three cardinals to celebrate the Vatican’s Holy Thursday and Good Friday liturgies as the state of the pontiff’s health continues to steadily improve, the director of the Holy See Press Office said Tuesday.

The 88-year-old pope, who is recovering from a prolonged case of double pneumonia, has delegated Italian Cardinal Domenico Calcagno to celebrate the chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on the morning of Holy Thursday.

Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, will lead the Passion service in the Vatican basilica on the afternoon of Good Friday, and the same evening, the vicar general of Rome, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, will preside over the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum with meditations written by Francis.

It has not yet been decided who will celebrate the Easter Vigil Mass on Saturday evening and the Easter Sunday Mass, Holy See spokesperson Matteo Bruni said Tuesday.

How much Pope Francis will participate in Holy Week and Easter liturgies at the Vatican is also unclear after the 88-year-old pontiff made a surprise appearance in St. Peter’s Square during Palm Sunday Mass on April 13.

For the first time since his 39-day hospitalization earlier this year, the pope was not wearing nasal tubes for breathing help during his brief appearance at the end of the public Mass.

According to Bruni, Francis is now able to go for longer periods without supplemental oxygen, except as needed at night. The pontiff’s mobility and voice are also improving, and he is holding short work meetings to discuss important Church business with the heads of Vatican dicasteries.

Pope Francis has no public schedule while convalescing from multiple respiratory infections that landed him in the hospital in February, but he has made several unexpected appearances in the last week, including a visit to pray before his favorite Marian icon, “Salus Populi Romani,” at the Basilica of St. Mary Major on April 12.

The pope also surprised tourists and pilgrims in St. Peter’s Basilica on April 10 when he was wheeled into the Vatican basilica wearing a white undershirt and black pants while draped in a blanket instead of being dressed in his usual white cassock and zucchetto.

Now just over three weeks since his release from hospital, the appearances mark the pope’s gradual resumption of public life during a convalescence expected to last several more weeks.