Hisopan al papa Francisco | Profile

Pope Francis has been subjected these days to the Directorate of Health and Hygiene of the Vatican to a sample for the diagnosis of coronavirus and tested negative. This was reported by the Italian agency Ansa from Vatican sources, according to which the examination was carried out on Monday morning, before the audience with the cardinals and superiors of the Roman Curia for Christmas greetings.

The need to subject the pontiff, who has just turned 84, to the swab was decided after the positivity of two cardinals, the beggar Konrad Krajewski and the president of the Vatican governor, Giuseppe Bertello.

Plans for a different Christmas in the Vatican

Christmas Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica will take place in the afternoon of Thursday, December 24, at 7:30 p.m., two hours before 9:30 p.m., which Pope Francis has always maintained during his pontificate.

The measure is being taken because of the urgency due to the covid-19 pandemic and the limits it imposes. Francisco intends to ensure that the participants in the celebration are limited and that they respect the “curfew” imposed by the Italian authorities when they return home.

Pope Francis promises no Vatican employees will be fired

From the Christmas calendar chaired by the Pope, released today by the Vatican press office, there is also a change regarding the Blessing “Urbi et Orbi” on Christmas Day at 12 noon, which will take place in the Basilica and not from the Central Lodge (the balcony overlooking Plaza San Pedro).

This had already happened on the last Easter Sunday, April 12.

Also in Saint Peter, the time and place of the first Vespers and the Te Deum in thanksgiving for the last year spent on Thursday, December 31, will be at 5:00 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, as well as the masses of January 1 and Epiphany, both from 10. A glimpse of two more hours confirms how the Argentine pontiff scrupulously respects the anti-covid provisions, as he demonstrated during all these months and also last Tuesday, at the the Immaculate Conception, when, in order not to create conglomerates of the faithful, he performed at dawn, at 7 am, the traditional act of veneration in Plaza España.