Pope Benedict to preside over Holy Week, Easter liturgies

Published: 2006-04-04

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Just days before the first anniversary of his election, Pope Benedict XVI will preside over a full schedule of Holy Week and Easter liturgies at the Vatican and in Rome. The pope will celebrate his 79th birthday on Easter, April 16, and will mark the first anniversary of his election April 19. Publishing the Holy Week and Easter schedule April 4, the Vatican also said U.S. Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, would lead the April 11 celebration of a reconciliation rite followed by individual confession and absolution in St. Peter's Basilica. In late December, when the Vatican first included the service among the list of Holy Week activities, it did so under the heading "celebrations presided over by the Holy Father." But Passionist Father Ciro Benedettini, assistant director of the Vatican press office, said April 4 that the pope never planned to preside at the reconciliation service; it was simply listed on the December calendar as one of the major Vatican liturgies planned for the spring.

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