VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis opened the solemn final days of Holy Week with a morning Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica but planned to skip the traditional Thursday afternoon service that commemorates Jesus’ Last Supper with his apostles.
The Vatican didn’t explain why the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, would preside instead over the Vatican's main Holy Thursday afternoon service.
Francis, who is 84 and suffers frequent bouts of sciatica nerve pain, may have opted to delegate the service given his busy liturgical schedule over the coming days that culminates with Easter Sunday Mass.