VATICAN (CNS): Pope Francis has asked top Vatican officials to set aside the first full week of Lent for spiritual reflection, but for the fourth year in a row he has decided not to gather them and go on retreat.
“The Holy Father invites the cardinals resident in Rome, the heads of dicasteries and superiors of the Roman Curia to live a period of spiritual exercises in a personal way, suspending their work activity and withdrawing in prayer during the first week of Lent from the afternoon of Sunday, February 18, until the afternoon of Friday, February 23,” said Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office.
He said that Pope Francis, would suspend all his meetings, including his weekly general audience on February 21.
During Lent 2014, Pope Francis began the tradition of taking the Rome-based cardinals and Curia officials to the Pauline Fathers’ retreat and conference centre in Ariccia, a town about 32 kilometres southeast of Rome, for the Lenten retreat.
The pope had a cold in 2020, so did not join the others, and then Covid-19 was proclaimed a pandemic, and the lockdown began.
In 2021, still citing the need for caution because of Covid, Pope Francis sent those who usually would attend the retreat a copy of a spiritual book to meditate on during the week. The joint retreat outside of Rome never resumed.
