Also in 2023 Pope Francis makes Holy Thursday invisible
Holy Thursday is being systematically obscured by Pope Francis. On this day the Church commemorates its foundation with the institution of the priesthood and the Holy Eucharist by Jesus Christ.
(Rome) The Holy See published the Pope's calendar for the liturgical celebrations of Holy Week and Easter. For the chronicle: For the eleventh time in the current pontificate, Holy Thursday is sought in vain.
The Pope's Office for Liturgical Celebrations has presented the calendar of liturgical celebrations over which Francis will preside during Holy Week and Easter. As usual, it must be said, this calendar does not include the celebration of the Missa in Cœna Domini. Pope Francis has systematically made Holy Thursday invisible since his election. Where Francis is on that day has only been known unofficially in recent years. The Vatican press office only comments on it the day before, or even after, and makes some photos available to journalists when the ceremony has already taken place somewhere out of public view. The homily delivered by Francis on this occasion will be published a few hours after the celebration. Full film recordings are dispensed with, as there was uproar and controversy in the early years because Francis washed the feet of women and Muslims and also gave them communion. Officially, the breaches of tradition and sacrileges, sufficiently documented, were never confirmed.
Francis prefers to spend Holy Thursday in a prison. He also makes the Holy Liturgy invisible with the "invisibles" behind prison walls. Visiting prisoners is an important work of mercy. However, the Pope would have many days a year to do it. A prison visit to systematically obscure Holy Thursday is a serious step
Holy Thursday is the only day of the church year when bishops are required to celebrate the sacred liturgy with their diocese in their Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church of the Bishop of Rome is the Patriarchal Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano. There is a good reason for this rule: Holy Thursday is the first day of the three holy days, the Triduum paschalis, and the day on which is commemorated in the sacred liturgy the foundation of the Church with the institution of the priesthood (Sacrament of Holy Orders) and of the Holy Eucharist (Sacrament of the Altar) by its founder Jesus Christ. It is, therefore, a fundamental question par excellence.
It is one of the unsolved mysteries of the current pontificate why Francis takes such a symbolic step, and not by chance, but systematically, that is to say, programmatically. It is a mystery because he himself has not explained this step until today and apparently no one dares to ask him.
Attempts are made to conceal this fact by alluding to Francis' "social commitment" and his willingness to give an example of service through the gesture of the washing of the feet. What is more serious is what is not said and what is hidden.
Francis' behavior, which he will repeat for the eleventh time at the beginning of April, is an "anomaly", as already affirmed in 2014 - without impressing Santa Marta - an appeal of a Catholic media initiative.
Next April 6, Holy Thursday 2023, Pope Francis will once again leave his episcopal church deserted and become "invisible" to himself and to the liturgy of the Church's founding act.
Previous places where Francis has withdrawn from the Diocese of Rome and the universal Church on Holy Thursday:
2013: Visit to the juvenile prison of Casal del Marmo, near Rome.
2014: Visit to a center for the disabled near Rome.
2015: Visit to the Rebibbia prison in Rome.
2016: Visit to the refugee house of Castelnuovo di Porto in Lazio.
2017: Visit to the high security prison of Paliano in Lazio.
2018: Visit to the Roman prison of Regina Coeli
2019: Visit to the prison of Velletri in Lazio
2020: Cancelled with reference to an alleged Corona pandemic1
2021: Cancelled in reference to an alleged Corona pandemic1
2022: Visit to Civitavecchia Prison in Lazio
2023: ???