No crowds at Vatican Holy Week ceremonies amid pandemic
28 March 2021, 12:24
Francis traditionally leads a Palm Sunday procession through St Peter’s Square in Vatican City.
Pope Francis is celebrating solemn Holy Week ceremonies without the usual throngs of pilgrims and tourists for the second year running amid pandemic safety concerns and travel restrictions.
Francis traditionally leads a Palm Sunday procession through St Peter’s Square in Vatican City and then celebrates an outdoor Mass for tens of thousands of faithful.
But this year he led a Palm Sunday service inside St Peter’s Basilica, as he did last spring.
That came just weeks after the Covid-19 outbreak erupted in Italy, which was the first country in the West to be hit by the pandemic.
Only about 120 faithful, including nuns and a few families, attended and were socially-distanced.
They wore protective masks, as did participants in the procession of 30 red-robed cardinals, but Francis was maskless.
