ROME – Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, has said Pope Francis continues to rest after his return from the hospital, and is not receiving anyone or holding meetings or audiences of any kind.
He also said that no definitive plans for Holy Week and Easter have yet been decided, but expects that cardinals could be tapped to preside over liturgical celebrations in the pope’s place.
Speaking to journalists on the margins of a recent event in Sacrofano, Parolin said that after his March 23 return from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, the pope “rests, he doesn’t see anyone, and, to my knowledge, he does not have audiences and he does not receive people.”
