Pope's health casts Easter shadow

The pope hears the traditional Easter confessions

VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II was able to hear confessions from worshippers on Good Friday despite earlier concerns over his health.

An arthritic knee prevented the ailing 81-year-old pope celebrate Mass for the second time in a week on Thursday.

But the pontiff was able to listen to traditional Good Friday confessions from nine Roman Catholics at St Peter's Basilica.

He was taken into the basilica standing on a wheeled platform to save him walking -- a common sight during the past two years.

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The pope, who does not hear confessions during the rest of the year, listened to those of five men and four women picked at random from within the church for about an hour.

The pontiff is due to later preside at a "Passion of Christ" service in the basilica and in the evening he is set to attend the traditional Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) at Rome's ancient Colosseum.

On Thursday, a Mass in St Peter's Basilica was said for him by Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos and in the evening he was substituted by his secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

At both services, the pontiff appeared alert but weak, and remained seated to deliver his sermons.

In the evening, two cardinals stood in for him to wash and kiss the feet of 12 priests in a gesture commemorating Christ's gesture of humility to his apostles the night before he died.

Four days earlier, breaking his tradition, John Paul gave up his place at the altar for Palm Sunday Mass, the ceremony that opens Holy Week, the most important week in the Church's calendar.

It was the first time he had done so in his 23-year papacy.

He is scheduled to mark Easter with a Saturday night vigil service in St. Peter's Basilica and lead Mass in St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday.

Vatican officials said they would decide on a case-by-case basis at which ceremonies the pope would be the main celebrant.

Pain in his right knee has forced the head of the Roman Catholic Church to cancel several engagements in the past few weeks.

Celebrating full Mass means the pope has to stand for up to two hours.

During Thursday morning's ceremony, hundreds of priests in simple white cassocks renewed the vows they made when they joined the priesthood.