Christmas Mass Changed for "Tired" Pope

(CBS)  An unprecedented announcement that Christmas Mass in St Peter's Basilica will begin at 10 p.m. instead of midnight has prompted new speculation about Pope Benedict XVI's fitness.

CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey reports that a Vatican spokesman said the decision to move the mass forward was taken nearly two months ago, "to tire the pope a little less."

The pontiff has "a very full schedule for a person more than 80 years old," the spokesman added.

The mass generally lasts about 90 minutes, and the Pope has to be back in St Peter's Square on Christmas morning to deliver the "Urbi et Orbi," his annual message to the city and the world.

Some observers have noted that Pope John Paul II kept to the traditional schedule even in 2004 when his various illnesses were well advanced, and visually obvious.

Benedict suffered a mild stroke in 1991, is thought to have had another one just before he was elected Pope, and broke his wrist in a fall while on holiday in the Italian Alps in July.

Vatican sources, who will only speak off the record, say Benedict is "tired," and meets with only a small number of close advisers.

His personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Ganswein, is said by Vatican insiders to be assuming more and closer control over Benedict's schedule.

Benedict will make four foreign trips and several inside Italy in the coming year, with requests for more, but concerns for his health mean his staff - not his flock - will have the biggest influence on the Pope's calendar.

[missedpoint]

If the point of Christmas is to observe a tradition then leave it at midnight and observe it at the traditional time, but if the point of Christmas is something more than man-made then the hour at which you observe it is far less important than where your heart is when you observe it.

[Henri_Rochard]

Maybe he could just celebrate midnight Mass a couple of time zones to the East.

[justsane-2009]

he couldn't like, take a nap?

[mgpm-2009]

Have a little respect! Does it really make a difference what time the Mass is held? NO. Benedict was chosen because he is a brilliant man. Judging others by JPII's standard isn't exactly fair. JPII was extraordinary. To say that Benedict is "half dead" is offensive. Ageism is as bad as sexism or prejudice for other reasons.