The Pope does not preside at the end and beginning of the year rites due to sciatica

Alessandro De Carolis – Vatican City

A strong pain and the awareness of not being able to be at the altar to conclude the year 2020 with the recitation of the Te Deum and to open 2021 with the Mass on the Solemnity of the Mother of God and the World Day of Peace – with the exception of the I pray the Angelus that you see him regularly in his place.

The news of the Pope’s absence was given at the end of the morning by the director of the Vatican press office, Matteo Bruni, who informed the media that “due to painful sciatica the celebrations this afternoon and tomorrow in the morning at the Altar of the Chair of the Vatican Basilica will not be presided over by the Holy Father Francis “.

Bruni clarified that the Pope’s replacement in San Pedro for the Te Deum, scheduled for today at 5 p.m., will be Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, while the mass on January 1, 2021, which will begin at 10 am, will be chaired by Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin. “Tomorrow, January 1, 2021 – concluded the director of the Press Office of the Holy See – Pope Francis will guide the Angelus prayer from the library of the Apostolic Palace anyway, as planned.”