Names and faces
■ Pope Francis is once again canceling public appearances because of nerve pain. Francis will not participate in three events “due to a recurrence of sciatica,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement Saturday. The 84-year-old pope went ahead with the Angelus blessing Saturday, delivered from the Apostolic Library instead of a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square because of concerns about the coronavirus. But he won’t say Mass in the Vatican Basilica today or a planned evening prayer at St. Paul’s Basilica to close out a week of prayer, and a meeting with the diplomatic corps to the Holy See set for Monday will be rescheduled, the Vatican said. Nerve pain also forced the pope to skip New Year’s ceremonies in St. Peter’s Basilica. The flare-up of Francis’ sciatica raises questions about his planned March 3-8 trip to Iraq, a visit that some have questioned given the coronavirus pandemic. Papal trips are grueling under any circumstance, with many appointments each day, long Masses and reception lines and traveling by car and plane. Francis has spoken openly about his sciatica in the past. It is a form of pain in the lower body caused by compression or irritation on nerve roots or on the sciatic nerve, which runs from the lower spine down the thigh.
■ President Joe Biden and his social media team took over the official POTUS Twitter account Wednesday. Soon after, the account followed the first lady, the vice president, the White House domestic policy adviser and nine other official accounts. It also followed cookbook author, model and social media titan Chrissy Teigen. The seemingly random choice was made after Teigen, who has 13.6 million followers, posted that she had been blocked by Donald Trump and asked Biden to follow her. Rob Flaherty, the White House director of digital strategy, addressed the addition on Twitter, tweeting a “how it started/how its going” meme with a screenshot of Teigen’s earlier tweet that read, “hello joebiden I have been blocked by the president for four years can I get a follow plz.” In the next screenshot, he showed Biden’s follower list, confirming the team had complied. Teigen reacted with 10 exclamation points. “I should prob never tweet again,” she subsequently tweeted. The White House and Teigen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.