Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Pope Francis will not celebrate the Sacrament of Infant Baptism this year in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.
By the Vatican News staff writer
Pope Francis will not celebrate this year’s traditional infant baptism in the Vatican’s famous Sistine Chapel on Sunday, January 10, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Holy See’s Press Office announced on Tuesday. .
“Due to the health situation, as a precautionary measure, the traditional baptism of children presided over by the Holy Father in the Sistine Chapel on the Sunday of the Baptism of the Lord will not be held this year,” the Holy See press office said. on a brief note Tuesday.
Instead, baptisms will be done in the parishes to which they belong.
Of long tradition
The tradition of baptizing children in the midst of the splendor of Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican, where the Popes are elected, was initiated by Pope St. John Paul II.
The Vatican website says that on January 11, 1981, the feast of the Lord’s Baptism, the Polish Pope administered baptism to 9 babies in the Vatican’s Pauline Chapel, which is separated from the Sistine Chapel by the Royal Hall. The following year she baptized 13 newborn babies and, in 1983, 20 babies.
Last year, Pope Francis baptized 32 children (17 boys and 15 girls), all children of Vatican employees.
In the liturgical calendar of the Church, the feast of the Baptism of Jesus marks the end of the Christmas season, which begins with the Mass on Christmas Eve.
Second wave of pandemic
Many countries around the world, including Europeans, are facing a second wave of coronavirus infection, and governments are trying to control its spread by severely restricting the movement and concentration of people, especially during the current holiday season. .
More than 75,000 people have died in Italy, the highest among European countries. With more than 2.1 million infections in total since the start of the pandemic, Italy ranks fourth after Russia, the United Kingdom and France.