Pope Francis skips traditional Good Friday procession at the Colosseum in chilly Rome

https://www.npr.org/2023/04/08/ [login to see] /pope-francis-good-friday-colosseum-rome
Pope Francis, hospitalized recently with bronchitis, skipped the traditional Good Friday nighttime procession at the Colosseum because of chilly weather in Rome, staying instead at his home at the Vatican while thousands of faithful turned out for the torchlit event.

This Good Friday was the first time a pontiff was a no-show at the Colosseum Way of the Cross procession since 2005. Then, a weakened and ailing St. John Paul II, eight days before his death, silently watched the Way of the Cross ritual on TV at his apartment in the Apostolic Palace.

The Vatican had said Francis would preside at the ancient Roman arena at the procession that recalls Jesus' suffering before his crucifixion and death on a cross. But just a few hours before the procession's start, the Vatican, citing the "intense cold" that has made evenings unseasonably chilly in Rome these days, revealed that Francis would stay at his residence in a hotel in Vatican City and follow the event from there.