Pope goes on Roman walkabout, prays for end to pandemic
Frances D’Emilio | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 8 months AGO
Pope Francis walks to reach S. Marcello al Corso church, where there is a miraculous crucifix that in 1552 was carried in a procession around Rome to stop the great plague, Sunday, March 15, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (Vatican News via AP)
Pope Francis walks to reach S. Marcello al Corso church, where there is a miraculous crucifix that in 1552 was carried in a procession around Rome to stop the great plague, Sunday, March 15, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (Vatican News via AP)
Pope Francis walks to reach S. Marcello al Corso church, where there is a miraculous crucifix that in 1552 was carried in a procession around Rome to stop the great plague, Sunday, March 15, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (Vatican News via AP)
Pope Francis prays in S. Marcello al Corso church, in front of a miraculous crucifix that in 1552 was carried in a procession around Rome to stop the great plague, Sunday, March 15, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (Vatican News via AP)
Pope Francis prays in S. Marcello al Corso church, in front of a miraculous crucifix that in 1552 was carried in a procession around Rome to stop the great plague, Sunday, March 15, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (Vatican News via AP)
Pope Francis prays in S. Marcello al Corso church, in front of a miraculous crucifix that in 1552 was carried in a procession around Rome to stop the great plague, Sunday, March 15, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (Vatican News via AP)
Pope Francis prays in S. Marcello al Corso church, in front of a miraculous crucifix that in 1552 was carried in a procession around Rome to stop the great plague, Sunday, March 15, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (Vatican News via AP)
Pope Francis delivers his blessing from inside the Apostolic library at the Vatican, Sunday, March 15, 2020. Pope Francis has praised people who could risk contagion to help the poor and the homeless even as fears of coronavirus spread prompts ever more countries to restrict ways of everyday life. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (Vatican News via AP)
Pope Francis delivers his blessing from inside the Apostolic library at the Vatican, Sunday, March 15, 2020. Pope Francis has praised people who could risk contagion to help the poor and the homeless even as fears of coronavirus spread prompts ever more countries to restrict ways of everyday life. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (Vatican News via AP)
Pope Francis delivers his blessing from his studio window overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday March 15, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Francis leaves after delivering his blessing from his studio window overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday March 15, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
A Catholic worshipper using protective gloves prays with a rosary beads at the Santa Maria de Cana parish in Pozuelo de Alarcon, outskirts Madrid, Spain, Sunday, March 15, 2020. Pope Francis has praised people for their continuing efforts to help vulnerable communities, including the poor and the homeless, amid the coronavirus pandemic. The vast majority of people recover from the COVID-19. According to the World Health Organization, most people recover in about two to six weeks, depending on the severity of the illness. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A Catholic worshipper using protective gloves prays with a rosary beads at the Santa Maria de Cana parish in Pozuelo de Alarcon, outskirts Madrid, Spain, Sunday, March 15, 2020. Pope Francis has praised people for their continuing efforts to help vulnerable communities, including the poor and the homeless, amid the coronavirus pandemic. The vast majority of people recover from the COVID-19. According to the World Health Organization, most people recover in about two to six weeks, depending on the severity of the illness. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Catholic priest Catholic priest Jesus Higueras from the Santa Maria de Cana parish is seen on a smartphone during a live video streamed mass in Pozuelo de Alarcon, outskirts Madrid, Spain, Sunday, March 15, 2020. Pope Francis has praised people for their continuing efforts to help vulnerable communities, including the poor and the homeless, amid the coronavirus pandemic. The vast majority of people recover from the COVID-19. According to the World Health Organization, most people recover in about two to six weeks, depending on the severity of the illness. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Robbiano Church parson, Don Giuseppe Corbari, poses in front of selfies he was sent by parishioners as Masses for the faithful have been suspended following Italy's coronavirus emergency, in Giussano, northern Italy, Sunday, March 15, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Selfies sent by parishioners lie on the benches of the Robbiano church as Masses for the faithful have been suspended following Italy's coronavirus emergency, in Giussano, northern Italy, Sunday, March 15, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis left the Vatican to make a surprise visit Sunday to two churches in Rome to pray for the end of the coronavirus pandemic — a move that came even as Italian health authorities insisted people stay home as much as possible to limit contagion in the heart of Europe's outbreak.
Francis who recently had a cold, headed first to a Rome basilica, St. Mary Major, where he often stops to give thanks after returning from trips abroad. There he prayed before an icon of the Virgin Mary dedicated to the “salvation of the Roman people.”
“With his prayer, the Holy Father has invoked the end of the pandemic that is striking Italy and the world, implored for healing for the many sick, recalled the so many victims of these days and asked that their family members and friends find consolation and comfort,”' Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement.
After that, the 83-year-old pope left the basilica, near Rome's central train station, and headed toward central Piazza Venezia, strolling along a brief stretch of Via del Corso, a noted shopping street for Romans. He then ducked into a church that most tourists pass by, St. Marcel on the Corso.
The church keeps a "miraculous crucifix that in 1522 was carried in procession through the neighborhoods of the city so that the Great Plague of Rome ended,'' Bruni said.
Some 90 minutes after he left Vatican City, Francis was back.
In ordinary times, the Via del Corso would be thronged with Sunday strollers and window-shoppers, but very few Romans are on the streets these days. A national lock-down allows people to go out to work, to purchase essentials like food or medicine or to take care of those in need.
A sole cyclist was pedaling down the street when Francis, in his white robes and with a security detail walking behind, approached the St. Marcel church.
The pope's prayerful foray across town came just hours after the Holy See announced that the Vatican's Holy Week ceremonies will go ahead without the public Italy tries to contain its coronavirus outbreak.
Bruni said “as far as Holy Week liturgical celebrations are concerned, I can specify that all are confirmed.”
But Bruni added: “As things stand, understudy are the ways they would be carried out and who would participate while respecting the security measures put in place to avoid spread of the coronavirus.” He added that in any case, faithful will be able to follow the ceremonies on TV, radio and through online media.
Vatican media added "until April 12 the General Audiences and the Angelus presided over by the Holy Father will be available only in live streaming on the official Vatican News website.”
Easter Sunday is April 12 this year, when normally tens of thousands of faithful would fill St. Peter's Square for an outdoor papal Mass, listen to the pope's speech and receive his blessing, delivered from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica.
Although Easter itself wasn't specified in the Vatican statements, it appeared likely restrictions on large gatherings might well continue in Italy. The Italian government has said it would decide whether measures, now in effect through April 3, would need extending or tightening.
Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday on April 5, with tradition calling for an outdoor Mass in the square also on that day, when faithful clutch palm fronds and olive branches.
COVID-19 for most people causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, like the elderly and the fragile, it can cause more severe illness.
At 83 with one lung partially compromised, Francis is both. After he was seen sniffling and coughing and sounded congested a couple of weeks ago, the Vatican said he had a cold.
Italy’s virus cases surged again Sunday, with 3,590 more in a 24-hour period for a total of 24,747 cases. Deaths also jumped, with 368 more, bringing the country's overall death toll to 1,809. The additional infections reported Sunday represented the biggest day-to-day increase so far in Italy.
With St. Peter's Square closed to the public, and one case of infection reported by the Vatican recently, Francis on Sunday delivered his traditional weekly commentary and blessing from the Apostolic Library instead of from a window overlooking the vast square.
Francis praised Catholic priests for “creativity” in tending to their flocks, especially in the region of Lombardy, northern Italy, where thousands of people have been hospitalized or are in quarantine. He said their efforts demonstrated there are “a thousand ways to be near” to the faithful, if not physically.
Some churches in Italy are being allowed to stay open for individual prayer, but all public Masses are forbidden during Italy's lockdown to discourage crowding.
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Luca Bruno in Giussano, Italy, Geir Moulson in Berlin, and Iain Sullivan in Madrid, contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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