Palm Sunday: Recovered Pope holds Mass as scheduled

One day after being released from the clinic, Pope Francis opened Holy Week in St. Peter’s Square. In front of thousands of believers present, he thanked them for their recovery wishes. At Easter he wants to preside over all services.

On Palm Sunday, Pope Francis celebrated the solemn service in St. Peter’s Square as planned. Thousands of people attended the fair. On Saturday, the 86-year-old returned to the Vatican after a three-day hospital stay for a respiratory illness.

Francis read his sermon from a seated position, initially in a weak but then increasingly firm voice. He thanked the faithful in Rome and around the world for their recovery wishes. “I thank you for your sympathy and also for your prayers, which you have intensified again in the past few days.” The faithful present then applauded.

He preached about Jesus’ last exclamation on the cross, which is handed down in the Gospel of Matthew with the words: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Occasionally he interspersed spontaneous remarks into the prepared text. His subject was people “feeling extreme pain, love that fails, is rejected, or is betrayed”.

He spoke of “children who are rejected or aborted”, failed marriages, “kinds of social exclusion, injustice and oppression, the loneliness of the disease”. Deviating from the text, he also spoke about a homeless German who died “alone, abandoned” in the colonnade around St. Peter’s Square, where homeless people often spend the night.

Spontaneous stop on Via della Conciliazione

After the final blessing, the Pope allowed himself to be driven in a wheelchair to the cardinals who were waiting for him and shook hands with many of them. In the open popemobile, he drove through the cheering crowd on St. Peter’s Square, waving and blessing. Surprisingly, he allowed himself to be driven onto the tourist- and pilgrim-crowded Via della Conciliazione, where thousands waved at him as he passed them at walking pace before returning to the Vatican.

Palm Sunday commemorates the day Jesus entered Jerusalem according to biblical tradition. With him the Holy Week begins. During Holy Week and then at Easter, the Pope wants to take part in all the important masses and also preside over the services. The preparation of the gifts at the altar, where you have to stand, is done by others.