Pope Benedict XVI began using a wheeled platform Sunday to navigate the long aisle of St. Peter’s Basilica, adopting the device employed by his ailing predecessor to reduce fatigue.
As the platform, pushed forward by aides, glided up the marble floor toward the main altar, Benedict gripped his pastoral staff with one hand and the device’s support bar with the other.
The 84-year-old pontiff occasionally took his hand off the bar to wave to thousands of faithful flanking his route in the basilica, where he celebrated a Mass dedicated to encouraging missionary zeal.
Benedict walked steadily around the central altar and up and down its steps, but appeared less sprightly Sunday than he usually does.
But Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi insisted the platform wasn’t being used for any “medical reason.”
From: http://ping.fm/GKHA7
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