continue at Chicago TribuneCardinal Francis George will not travel to Rome for the canonizations of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II, the pontiff who appointed him a bishop and elevated him to cardinal.
The archdiocese said Tuesday that the cardinal accepted doctors' advice not to travel overseas for the April 27 canonizations. The decision comes after the cardinal announced a new cancer diagnosis last month and received two doses of chemotherapy, one of which led to his hospitalization.
“They spelled out the dangers,” George said Tuesday night at St. Xavier University, where he delivered a lecture. “I can't risk another infection … It will be very crowded. … It would be very foolish to go over there.”
The 77-year-old George will be in Chicago during Holy Week, which starts Sunday, and which he described as being more important than being in Rome. He will serve at the altar during worship services leading up to Easter, but he is expected to avoid distributing communion and personally greeting parishioners because of a weakened immune system, church officials said.
George's decision not to travel follows the archdiocese's announcement last month that doctors had found new cancer cells in his right kidney. He had been in remission following a diagnosis of urothelial cancer in August 2012.
Cdl. George resumes chemotherapy, cancels trip for canonizations
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