Frail Pope sits out mass

The Pope sat on his throne throughout most of the mass

VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II, for the first time since he was appointed, has not celebrated Palm Sunday mass due to ill health.

He sat through the 2-hour mass, held a week before Easter Sunday, but allowed a cardinal to celebrate it.

A painful arthritic right knee has forced the Pope to cancel several engagements in the past few weeks and the decision was apparently linked to the knee and not other health concerns, Vatican sources told Associated Press said.

To celebrate the mass himself, the 81-year-old would have had to stand for more than two hours.

It was the first time in his 23-year papacy that bad health forced the Pope to delegate a cardinal to celebrate a major Easter season celebration, although he has done this before with minor services.

The mass in St Peter's Square was said by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope's vicar for the diocese of Rome, while the Pope spent most of the time seated on his throne.

The Pope read the opening prayers at the ceremony from his throne. He also read the homily and some prayers.

Palm Sunday commemorates Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem a week before he died. It begins a hectic period of papal activities.

In another change with the past, the Pope did not lead a procession from the centre of St Peter's Square.

Instead, he appeared at the doors of St Peter's Basilica and slowly walked to the throne on the steps of Christendom's largest church before a crowd of more than 30,000 people.