Pope’s Sunday prayer to be livestreamed as coronavirus spreads

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis decided to deliver Sunday’s prayer by livestream and Italy called in retired doctors as the new coronavirus epidemic gathered strength and emptied streets in Europe’s worst affected country.

The 83-year-old pontiff broke with centuries of tradition by enlisting the help of technology to keep crowds from descending on Saint Peter’s Square for the traditional Angelus Prayer.

“The prayer will be broadcast via livestream by Vatican News and on screens in Saint Peter’s Square,” the Vatican said in a statement. It had originally promised to review the Argentine-born pope’s schedule “to avoid the dissemination” of the new COVID-19 disease. The Vatican appears to believe that the pope’s absence from his traditional spot at the window will keep the crowds on the vast square down and the threat of contagion low. The pope himself has been out of action for more than a week with a cold.