VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis again cancels public performances due to nerve pain.
Francis will not participate in three events in the coming days “because of a recurrence of sciatica,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement on Saturday.
The 84-year-old Pope will continue Saturday with the Angelus Blessing, delivered from the Apostolic Library in lieu of a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square due to the resurgence of the virus. But he will not say mass in the Vatican Basilica on Sunday or say a scheduled evening prayer in the St. Vatican.
Nerve pain also forced the Pope to skip the New Year’s ceremonies in St. Peter’s Basilica.
The flare-up of Francis’s sciatica raises questions about his planned March 3-8 trip to Iraq, a visit that some have questioned given the coronavirus pandemic.
Papal travel is grueling in all circumstances, with many appointments per day, long masses and reception lines, and multiple transfers by car and plane.
Francis has spoken openly about his sciatica in the past. It is a type of lower body pain caused by compression or irritation of nerve roots or on the sciatic nerve, which runs from the lower spine to the thigh.