Vatican City:

Pope Francis took part in the Easter Vigil service at the Vatican on Saturday, a day after the last-minute cancellation of his presence at a major Good Friday procession revived questions about his health.    

The 87-year-old pontiff arrived to preside over the Easter Vigil at Saint Peter’s Basilica in front of some 6,000 people from around the world shortly before 7:30 pm (1830 GMT).

A day after cancelling his appearance at the Stations of the Cross (“Via Crucis”) ceremony, Pope Francis, clad in white, arrived in a wheelchair shortly before the two-hour service.

The Vatican had confirmed earlier in the day that he would attend. 

After the rite of light in a basilica plunged into darkness to symbolise the passage from death to life of Christ, Francis delivered a ten-minute homily in Italian, speaking without any undue difficulty.

He spoke out against “the walls of selfishness and indifference” in the world and lamented “all the aspirations for peace shattered by the cruelty of hatred and the ferocity of war”.

Later in the service he was to baptise eight adults.

Sunday’s Easter Mass and the “Urbi et Orbi” blessing that follows it will be broadcast live around the world.

In a brief statement Friday, the Vatican had said that “to preserve his health ahead of tomorrow’s vigil and the Easter Sunday mass, Pope Francis will this evening follow the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum from the Santa Marta Residence”, where he lives.

The last-minute decision — the pope’s chair was already in place for the procession — and the lack of detail in the statement added to doubts about his health and questions as to how long he can continue to lead the Catholic Church and its 1.3 billion followers.

– Growing doubts –

“The Via Crucis of a fragile pope” was the Saturday headline in Italian daily La Stampa, while Il Messaggero spoke of a “renunciation of Francis”.

A Vatican source told AFP on Friday that there was “no particular concern” about his health, and that the decision to pull out had been “simply a measure of caution”.

The Argentinian Jesuit had also cancelled his participation in the “Via Crucis” in 2023, but that followed a three-day hospital stay for bronchitis, and was announced well ahead of time. Weeks later, he underwent a hernia operation. 

Holy Week is a pillar of the Catholic calendar, involving a series of ceremonies leading up to Easter Sunday itself.

Up until Friday, the pope had attended his various engagements across the week, but he has recently appeared tired and has sometimes delegated speaking roles to colleagues.

He notably skipped making a homily a week ago when presiding Palm Sunday mass in St. Peter’s Square, replacing it with a moment of silence and prayer, although he did pronounce prayers before making an appeal for peace at the end of the mass.

Holy Week, culminating in Easter Sunday marking Christ’s resurrection, is a major part of the Catholic calendar, and its numerous ceremonies are something of a marathon for an octogenarian who has been travelling to engagements in a wheelchair for two years.

Francis, who never takes holidays, made his last trip in September, to the southern French city of Marseille. In December, he cancelled a much-anticipated attendance at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.

His next scheduled trip is to Venice on April 28. The Vatican has not yet confirmed a planned trip to Asia and Pacific Ocean nations for this summer.

Francis has previously left the door open to stepping down if he can no longer do the job. That would follow the example of his immediate predecessor, Benedict XVI, who in 2013 became the first pope since the Middle Ages to voluntarily step aside.

But in a memoir published this month, Francis wrote that he did “not have any cause serious enough to make me think of resigning”.

Resignation is a “distant possibility” that would be justified only in the event of “a serious physical impediment”, he wrote.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

People watch the re-enactment of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday in San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Catholic zealots in the Philippines re-enacting the last moments of Jesus Christ were nailed to wooden crosses while others whipped themselves bloody in extreme displays of religious devotion on Good Friday.

While most Filipinos went to church or spent the holiday with family, hundreds gathered in villages around San Fernando city, north of Manila, to watch men punish themselves in a bid to atone for their sins or seek miracles from God.

Dozens of bare-chested flagellants wearing black shrouds and crowns made of vines walked barefoot through dusty, narrow streets, rhythmically flogging their backs with strips of bamboo tied to ropes, their blood soaking the top of their trousers and spattering onlookers.

“This is for my son, an epileptic,” said Joel Yutoc, who has his 13-year-old son’s name tattooed across his chest. Mr. Yutoc, 31, said his son had not had seizures in the eight years since he began taking part in the Good Friday floggings. The whippings are the opening act of street plays performed by devout residents.

In San Juan village, a short, wiry man with wild, white hair playing the role of Jesus Christ and two others were dragged by neighbours dressed as Roman centurions to a raised mound where wooden crosses lay on the ground.

As spectators filmed on their mobile phones, three-inch nails were driven into their palms, and then the crosses hoisted upright. Several minutes later the crosses were lowered to the ground and the nails pulled out.

“I will keep doing this while I’m alive, for as long as my body is able to do it. That is my vow,” said retired fisherman Wilfredo Salvador, 67, who began playing the role of Jesus Christ in the mock crucifixions 16 years ago following a mental breakdown.

“This is nothing. Sometimes it heals after a day and I am able to wash dishes and bathe,” Mr. Salvador said of his wounds. The extreme acts are frowned upon by the Catholic Church and health experts.

The Philippine health department this week urged the public to “avoid acts or rites that lead to physical wounds and injuries”. “We join the pastoral guidance of our faith leaders, guiding all towards religious practices that are safe and healthy,” it said in a statement.