ROME

Pope again cuts back participation in Mass

Pope John Paul II curtailed his participation in the annual Corpus Christi Mass and procession Thursday another indication of his increasingly frail condition.

The 82-year-old John Paul presided over the open-air evening Mass in front of St. John Lateran, Rome’s cathedral, but one of his closest aides, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, actually celebrated it.

After the Mass, the pope took part in a half-mile procession to another church.

The pope has knee and hip ailments that make walking difficult. He also suffers from the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, including slurred speech and a trembling hand.

France

Masked robbers knock off Brink’s truck

Three masked robbers armed with a rocket launcher forced a Brink’s truck off a road Thursday in western France and made off with $1.9 million in cash, police said.

The robbery in Saint-Aquilin-de-Pacy came a week after 10 assailants attacked two Brink’s trucks near Paris and traded fire with police, injuring three.

In Thursday’s robbery, the thieves, driving two cars and wielding the rocket launcher, trailed the armored truck and forced it off the road.

After instructing the two-man Brink’s team to get out of the truck, the three men took the cash and then dumped nails on the road behind them to help in their getaway.

No shots were fired. The Brink’s men were treated for shock at a hospital.

Ireland

Pilot walkout leads to flight cancellations

Pilots at Aer Lingus walked off the job for 24 hours Thursday, adding to fears that a protracted industrial dispute at the money-losing Irish national airline could lead to its collapse.

The airline, citing the risk of further walkouts and effects of the strike, suspended all flights today, Saturday and Sunday, stranding more than 100,000 passengers. It also stopped pilots’ wages indefinitely.

Skeleton services on Thursday were being operated internally and to London, while just one trans-Atlantic flight was scheduled. Only 3,000 of the 20,000 passengers with tickets for Aer Lingus flights were able to travel.

The pilots’ trade union, Impact, has challenged the company’s survival plan. The airline suffered heavy financial losses after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.