Doctors and nurses in Good Friday procession at Vatican
Doctors and nurses in Good Friday procession at Vatican

The Pope has presided over a late-night Good Friday procession from the steps outside St Peter’s Basilica.

A pair of white-coated doctors who care for coronavirus patients participated in a torch-lit Good Friday procession, watched over by Pope Francis and held in a nearly empty St Peter’s Square instead of Rome’s Colosseum because of Covid-19 safety measures.

Francis presided over the late-night ceremony from the steps outside St Peter’s Basilica as the procession circled 10 times around the square’s central obelisk, slowly following a path marked by candles set on the square’s cobblestones.