Pope Francis ends his week of spiritual exercises and once again takes up his busy schedule of appointments, among them a meeting with the director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN.
Just as the start of each Lent, the Pope along with the Vatican Curia dedicated a week to participate in Spiritual Exercises.
Although Pope Francis began the practice of traveling outside of Rome to hold the spiritual exercises as a group, this year they were held individually in the Vatican due to COVID-19.
During that time, Pope Francis did not have any public appointments and suspended his weekly General Audience.
The only public event the Pope attended was the funeral Mass of Cardinal Agostino Cacciavillan, where he deliver the Final Commendation and Valediction rite.
Nor did he attend a catechesis to close the spiritual exercises given by the Preacher of the Papal Household Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, in which he reminded the Curia that their position in the Church comes from a personal call from Jesus, and not solely from the sacrament of priestly ordination.
RANIERO CANTALAMESSA
'This gives us the authorization to do certain things, but not necessarily the authority.'
A week free of public obligations comes at a good time for Pope Francis, as his doctor said he needs to rest so as to not aggravate his knee problems.
Now, the Pope is back to his normal routine, and will began preparing for a series of important meetings at the Vatican, and a two-day trip to Malta at the start of April.
JM
