ROME, Italy – In a surprise move, Pope Francis on Thursday privately celebrated a Holy Week ritual with a cardinal he fired abruptly months ago, in an apparent gesture of reconciliation.
The cardinal, Angelo Becciu, was dismissed from a powerful Vatican job in September, after Francis told him he was accused of syphoning off Vatican charity funds to help his siblings.
But on Thursday, Francis visited Becciu and celebrated Holy Thursday mass in the chapel of his private apartment, the cardinal said in a statement issued to Vatican journalists.
A Vatican source said he could not comment on the pope’s “private engagements,” but added, “a fatherly gesture like this, on…
Keep on reading: Pope reunites with cardinal he fired in Holy Week mass