Pope Francis, hospitalised recently with bronchitis, skipped the traditional Good Friday night-time procession at the Colosseum because of chilly weather in Rome, instead staying at his home at the Vatican, while thousands of faithful turned out for the torchlit event.
Rome has plummeted to temperatures of 4CThis Good Friday was the first time a pontiff was a no-show at the Colosseum Way of the Cross procession since 2005.
However, just a few hours before the procession's start, the Vatican — citing the "intense cold" that has made evenings unseasonably chilly in Rome these past days — revealed that the pope would stay at his residence in Vatican City and follow the event from there. Wearing crimson vestments, Pope Francis, who has a chronic knee problem, used a wheelchair to reach the central area of the basilica and preside over the service.A day earlier, the pope attended a lengthy Mass in the basilica and, in the afternoon, went to a Rome juvenile prison where he washed and dried the feet of a dozen young residents in a symbolic gesture of humility that imitates what Jesus did for his 12 apostles ahead of his crucifixion.
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