Pope Francis went to the Basilica of San Pedro to pray before the vigil of Holy Saturday

Pope Francis went to pray to the Basilica of San Pedro before the celebration of the Holy Saturday vigil and stopped to greet some groups of American pilgrims who were at that time in the temple.

By Infobae

Francisco, who is convalescent of the respiratory infection that was admitted for 38 days at the Gemelli Hospital, this Saturday returned to the Basilica to pray around 18.00 local time (16.00 GMT) how he had already done on other occasions.

The pontiff, who appeared without the nasal canules for oxygen, crossed the Basilica of San Pedro where he stopped to pray before the tomb of the apostle before the vigil was celebrated, one of the most suggestive ceremonies and loaded with meaning in the Catholic tradition, in which the waiting of the resurrection of Christ is celebrated.

The Pope also wants to be on Sunday in the Urbi et Orbi blessing after the Mass in the Plaza de San Pedro, although it will depend on his health, according to the Vatican press office.

The presence of the Pope appears in the book of the Ceremony of the Sunday of Resurrection and of the subsequent blessing from the balcony of the Central Lodge of the Basilica of San Pedro, where everything is already prepared. Although from the press office of the Holy See these days they prefer prudence.

Francisco has been absent in all the rites of Holy Week Vatican and only went on the afternoon of Holy Thursday to the Roman prison of Regina Coeli, near the Vatican, for greeting to the inmates how he had done since the beginning of the pontificate.

The Resurrection Mass in the Plaza de San Pedro will be officiated by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, while the Pope is expected just after for the Easter message from the balcony, although a collaborator will surely read and subsequently he will give the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing (to the city and the world) that is done only at Christmas and in Holy Week.

Pope Francis lives this Holy Week in full convalescence for his respiratory problems they had at the hospital for 38 days, until March 23, and reappeared at the end of Palm Sunday and on the visit to jail.

«I live as I can,» replied the pontiff, with a voice thread, from the window of the car at his exit from the prison, asked by the media about how he lives this Holy Week in these delicate moments of his health.