A Vatican picture showed the pope and a small security detail walking on an empty Via del Corso (Picture: AFP)

Pope Francis has been pictured defying Italian government advice as he walks through the empty streets of Rome offering prayers to people affected by coronavirus and for an end to the crisis.

Flanked by security guards, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church was seen shortly after delivering a blessing from his balcony window over an empty St Peter’s Square.

He left the Vatican unannounced and visited two churches, praying at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and St Marcello church where he prayed in front of a crucifix that was used in a procession when the plague hit Rome in 1522.



A Vatican statement said he prayed for an end to the pandemic and also for the sick, their families and health providers and workers keeping pharmacies and food stores open amid a national lockdown.


Francis prayed for victims and for an end to the coronavirus crisis that has hit Italy particularly hard (Picture: Reuters)

He visited two Catholic churches including the San Marcello al Corso church (Picture: Reuters)

A Vatican picture showed the pope and a small security detail walking on an empty Via del Corso, which is usually packed with shoppers and people taking strolls on Sunday.

The Vatican said earlier that his Holy Weeks and Easter services next month will be held without public participation, a step believed to be unprecedented in modern times.

For the latest coronavirus updates and coverage in the UK and around the world click here.

It was not clear how the massive events will be scaled down but sources said officials were studying ways to hold them in indoor locations, including St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel, with small representative groups attending.

The number of cases of Covid-19 in Italy has surged higher again. Some 3,590 more cases of the coronavirus have been reported in a 24-hour period, nearly 100 more than the increase the day before.

The additional infections reported on Sunday represent the country’s biggest day-to-day increase.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

He prayed to the a crucifix that led a procession in 1522 to stop the great plague (Picture: AFP)

Pope Francis, flanked by security guards, walks through the deserted streets of Rome amid the lockdown (Picture: Reuters)

Italy’s Civil Protection chief Angelo Borrelli announced the latest number of cases, bringing the total number of people with the new coronavirus to 24,747. The number of deaths had increased by 368 to 1,809.

The Holy Week services, which begin on Palm Sunday, lead up to Easter, the most important day of the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar for the world’s 1.3 billion members.

Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem, usually takes place in St. Peter’s Square, which traditionally is decorated with olive trees while those in the crowd hold up palm branches.

Another Holy Week event, the Way of the Cross procession on Good Friday, takes place around Rome’s ancient Colosseum.

He also stopped at the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica to say prayers (Picture: AFP)

The Vatican said earlier that his Holy Weeks and Easter services next month will be held without public participation (Picture: EPA)

The main event is the Easter Sunday Mass and the pope’s twice yearly ‘Urbi et Orbi’ blessing and message from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Square.

The Netherlands usually fly in tens of thousands of flowers to decorate the papal altar and the entire square, but the Dutch ambassador to the Vatican, Caroline Weijers, said last week that there would be no flowers this year.



According to the World Health Organisation, the vast majority of people who get Covid-19 recover within weeks.

Italy’s national health institute chief Silvio Brusaferro said it was not known if Italy was reaching its peak and might start seeing the number of new cases decline.

Meanwhile, the country’s foreign minister said China was sending 150 pulmonary respirators now and more later to help treat seriously ill Covid-19 patients in Italy, the centre of Europe’s coronavirus pandemic.

He left the Vatican unannounced and visited two churches (Picture: AP)

Pope Francis makes a blessing over an empty St Peter’s square at the Vatican (Picture: Getty)

Foreign minister Luigi Di Maio also said on Sunday that China would be shipping five million masks for medical staff.

A day earlier, the top health official in the hard-hit region of Lombardy complained publicly about the quality of the masks that Italy’s central government had shipped to hospitals in his area, likening them to toilet paper.

Lombardy has recorded 13,272 infections and 1,218 deaths alone.

China, which appears to have turned the corner on its own Covid-19 outbreak, will also be sending medical crews to aid the Italians, Mr Di Maio said.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.