Pope cuts back Holy Week participation

Pope John Paul II has cut back his participation in Good Friday and other Holy Week ceremonies.

The pontiff, who will be 82 in May and suffers from symptoms of Parkinson's, has been ceding his place to other prelates at the main altar during ceremonies.

John Paul did, however, keep up one Good Friday tradition: He spent an hour in St. Peter's Basilica hearing confessions from five women and four men of various nationalities.

For the first time in his 23-year papacy, John Paul let Cardinal Angelo Sodano and Cardinal Roger Etchegaray perform the ritual washing and kissing of the feet of priests, a Holy Thursday ritual symbolizing humility.

Just a year ago, the pope was able to move down a line of a dozen seated, white-robed priests, pouring water on each man's right foot from a golden pitcher, wiping them dry and bringing the feet to his lips.

Holy Week is a grueling time for John Paul, with a packed schedule of public appearances. He is scheduled to perform a Good Friday service at the Colosseum, a vigil service on Saturday night and an Easter Mass in St Peter's Square on Sunday.

The Good Friday procession, which symbolizes Jesus' path to his crucifixion, has been modified in deference to John Paul's age and health. He used to carry a wooden cross for the entire half-mile procession, but stopped last year.

The Vatican hasn't mentioned the Pope's health during Holy Week, but said February 23 that he had a joint disease, arthrosis, in one of his knees. He has since cancelled a number of public appearances.

Marco Politi, a papal biographer writing in the Rome newspaper La Repubblica, said John Paul's aides are wondering how he will cope with the stairs to get on and off an airplane.

Ahead of him are trips scheduled in May to Bulgaria, in July to Canada, Mexico and Guatemala and in August to Poland. He also wrote that the Vatican has resisted suggestions that John Paul use a wheelchair.