Pope Francis presides over the Easter vigil celebration in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Saturday, March 30, 2024. Pope Francis presided over the Vatican's somber Easter Vigil service on Saturday night, a day after making the last-minute decision to skip his participation in the Good Friday procession at the Colosseum as a health precaution.
Francis entered the darkened, silent St. Peter's Basilica in his wheelchair, took his place in a chair and offered an opening prayer. Sounding somewhat congested and out of breath, he blessed an elaborately decorated Easter candle, the flame of which was then shared with other candles until the whole basilica twinkled.
The evening service, one of the most solemn and important moments in the Catholic liturgical calendar, commemorates the resurrection of Jesus and includes the sacrament of baptism for eight adult converts. The Vatican had said Francis skipped the Good Friday procession to ensure his participation in both the vigil service Saturday night, which usually lasts about two hours, and Easter Sunday Mass a few hours later.
He has canceled some audiences and often asked an aide to read aloud some of his speeches. But the alarm was raised when he ditched his Palm Sunday homily altogether last week at the last minute and then decided suddenly Friday to stay home rather than preside over the Way of the Cross procession at the Colosseum re-enacting Christ's crucifixion.
In his recently published memoirs, "Life: My Story Through History," Francis said he isn't suffering from any health problems that would require him to resign and that he still has " many projects to bring to fruition."
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