NEWS STORY: Pope Opens Penitential Season of Lent With Ashes in His Hospital Room

c. 2005 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Unable for the first time in his 26 years as Roman Catholic pontiff to preside over an Ash Wednesday church service, Pope John Paul II opened the penitential season of Lent (on Feb. 9) from his hospital room. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the 84-year-old pontiff blessed […]

c. 2005 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY _ Unable for the first time in his 26 years as Roman Catholic pontiff to preside over an Ash Wednesday church service, Pope John Paul II opened the penitential season of Lent (on Feb. 9) from his hospital room.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the 84-year-old pontiff blessed the ashes that were then imposed on the foreheads of “all those present” at a Mass in his 10th-floor room in the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic hospital.


During the 40-day liturgical season of Lent Christians fast, pray and give alms in preparation for the Easter celebration of the resurrection of Christ. In his message for this year’s observances, the pope called on Catholics to give spiritual and material support to the elderly.

The rite of placing ashes on the foreheads of Ash Wednesday worshippers dates to the 11th century. The priest traditionally says, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return.” It is intended as a reminder of mortality and a sign of turning away from sin.

John Paul has been hospitalized since Feb. 1 when he suffered acute breathing problems brought on by influenza. He is reported to be making progress in his recovery but is expected to remain in the hospital at least until the end of this week.

There will be no official bulletin on his condition until Thursday, but Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the pope’s vicar general for Rome, emerged from a visit to John Paul on Wednesday to report that “he seemed very well indeed.”

Standing in for the pontiff at an Ash Wednesday service in St. Peter’s Basilica was American Cardinal James Francis Stafford, former archbishop of Denver. He now heads the Vatican court that issues absolutions and dispensations.

Stafford, who holds the title of penitentiary major, celebrated a Liturgy of the Word that replaced the pope’s weekly general audience.

Until two years ago, John Paul drove across the Tiber River to Rome’s Aventine Hill each Ash Wednesday to pray in the Benedictine Church of San Anselmo and celebrate Mass in the Dominican Basilica of Santa Sabina nearby.


The celebration has been held in St. Peter’s Basilica since 2003 because Parkinson’s disease and arthritis have made it difficult for the pope to move, but this year was the first time that he could not preside over a church service.

Stafford told the thousands of pilgrims in the basilica that it was “a joy and an honor” to preside in John Paul’s name. “We feel his spiritual presence among us and we remember him with affection,” the prelate said, asking God’s grace for the pope’s continued ministry.

(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

“May God concede to him health and comfort so that he may continue his pastoral ministry for the good of the Church and of humanity,” a youth said during the Prayers of the Faithful.

Navarro-Valls said the pope invited his personal physician, Renato Buzzonetti, 81, and the team of 10 doctors caring for him in the hospital to a concelebration of the Ash Wednesday Mass in his room.

John Paul has concelebrated Mass daily with his secretary, Archbishop Stanislao Dziwisz, during his hospital stay.

The pope traditionally cancels his audiences during the first full week of Lent to participate in spiritual exercises in the Vatican, which this year open on Sunday (Feb. 13).


John Paul’s taxing schedule, issued before he became ill, calls for him to lead Holy Week services, opening with Palm Sunday on March 20, and to deliver his “urbi et orbi” message to Rome and the world on Easter Sunday.

MO/PH END RNS

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