Pope Francis will celebrate mass online after catching cold

VATICAN, Holy See — Pope Francis will conduct this Sunday's Angelus prayer remotely and not from a window in the Vatican because he has come down with a cold, his press office said Saturday.

"Due to the intense cold, together with the cold symptoms that have manifested themselves in recent days, Pope Francis will celebrate the Angelus prayer on Sunday, December 22, from the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta," his residence in the Vatican, said a message posted in Italian on Telegram.

The Vatican said the decision was taken in light of the pope's busy schedule in the coming week, even if he did hold two in-person meetings Saturday, with Vatican employees and with the Roman Curia, the governing body of the Catholic Church.

The 88-year-old pontiff is due to open the Holy Door at St. Peter's Basilica on Tuesday, December 24, marking the start of the Catholic Church's year-long jubilee, and then celebrate a Christmas Eve mass that evening.

On Christmas Day the 25th, he will lead another mass and deliver his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message, and on December 26, St. Stephen's Day, he will celebrate a mass in the Roman prison of Rebibbia.