An air of excitement swept through the tens of thousands of Romans and pilgrims from many countries, accompanied by enthusiastic applause and cheers, as Pope Francis arrived in a wheelchair at the end of the Palm Sunday celebration in St. Peter’s Square to greet those present on a warm but cloudy Sunday, April 13.
“Happy Palm Sunday, and a good Holy Week,” the 88-year old pope, who was not wearing nasal tubes for oxygen, said as he greeted the people on the 22nd day of his “at least two months” convalescence. His voice was slightly stronger than when he has recently spoken publicly, and his words drew more applause and shouts of “Viva il Papa!” from those present.
He first greeted his fellow Argentine, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, vice-dean of the College of Cardinals, whom he had asked to preside at the Palm Sunday celebration, and the cardinal, who has known him since their days in seminary in Buenos Aires, gave him a kiss on the cheek. He saluted some of the 39 cardinals and 30 bishops present, as well as several guests and Vatican officials who were seated on either side of the altar. He gave sweets to one child and a rosary to another before returning, through the basilica, to Santa Marta, the Vatican guesthouse where he lives. He looked happy to be among the people again, but it is clear that it will take some time—surely the at least six more weeks of convalescence prescribed by his doctors—before he recovers his physical strength.
Yesterday, April 12, Pope Francis again appeared in public when he made a surprise visit to the Basilica of St. Mary Major to pray and deposit a bouquet of flowers in front of the revered ancient Byzantine icon of the Virgin Mary, Salus Populi Romani (Protectress of the People of Rome), where he has prayed more than 120 times at key moments during his twelve year pontificate, and always before and after every foreign trip.
His appearance today was unannounced but not unexpected as Swiss Guards were posted around the square, a sign that the pope would be present at some point. He arrived from the main door of the basilica, pushed in his wheelchair by his personal nurse, Massimilaiano Strappetti, and accompanied by his Argentine private secretary, the Rev. Juan Cruz Villalón.
The pope acknowledged those in the square who had palm branches in their hands that had been blessed by Cardinal Sandri at the start of today’s almost two hours long celebration. The cardinals, bishops and many young people gathered around the at the obelisk in the center of St. Peter’s Square then processed from there to the altar as the choir sang the hymn to Christ the King in Latin, in memory of Jesus’ triumphant entry to Jerusalem, days before his Passion and Crucifixion.
Pope Francis’ homily: Let us be Simon of Cyrene for one another
The cardinals, bishops and more than 300 priests concelebrated the Mass at which Cardinal Sandri was the main celebrant. It was conducted mainly in Italian, including the reading of the Passion from the Gospel according to St. Luke, but the Credo, Sanctus, Our Father and Agnus Dei were sung in Latin. The prayers of the faithful were said in Chinese, French, Ukrainian, German and Japanese.
Cardinal Sandri read the homily in Italian during the Mass and began by saying that Pope Francis had prepared it for this occasion. In it, Francis reflected on the role of Simon of Cyrene in helping Jesus to carry his cross. He discussed how Simon might have faced this task, and what he might have felt in his heart.
In his meditation, he concluded by mentioning “the hatred and violence,” “the war and deprivation” that is being experienced by so many people today, in what seemed to be a reference to what is currently happening to the Palestinians in this same Holy Land where Jesus suffered his Passion and Crucifixion, and elsewhere in the world too.
He told those present in the square and his far larger global audience:
Let us follow, then, in Simon’s footsteps, for he teaches us that Jesus comes to meet everyone, in every situation. When we see the great crowds of men and women whom hatred and violence are compelling to walk the road to Calvary, let us remember that God has made this road a place of redemption, for he walked it himself, giving his life for us. How many Simons of Cyrene are there in our own day, bearing the cross of Christ on their shoulders! Can we recognize them? Can we see the Lord in their faces, marred by the burden of war and deprivation? Faced with the appalling injustice of evil, we never carry the cross of Christ in vain; on the contrary, it is the most tangible way for us to share in his redemptive love.
The pope concluded his homily, read by the cardinal, with this message to all believers:
Brothers and sisters, in order to experience this great miracle of mercy, let us decide how we are meant to carry our own cross during this Holy Week: if not on our shoulders, in our hearts. And not only our cross, but also the cross of those who suffer all around us; perhaps even the cross of some unknown person whom chance — but is it really chance? — has placed on our way.
He encouraged them, “Let us prepare for the Lord’s paschal mystery by becoming each of us, for one another, a Simon of Cyrene.”
Angelus Message: Pope appeals for peace in Sudan
Later, the Vatican released the pope’s Angelus message in written form to the accredited media, as it has done every Sunday since Francis was admitted to the Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14. In it, Pope Francis reminded people that Jesus went to his cross like “a child clinging to his father's neck, fragile in the flesh, but strong in trusting abandonment, until he fell asleep, in death, in the Father’s arms.”
The Argentine pope said, “These are feelings that the [Palm Sunday] liturgy calls us to contemplate and make our own. We all have sorrows, physical or moral, and faith helps us not to give in to despair, not to close ourselves off in bitterness, but to face them, feeling enveloped, like Jesus, by the providential and merciful embrace of the Father.”
Then alluding to his own trials and suffering as a result of the double pneumonia that twice took him to a close encounter with death, during which he said on several occasions that he was “sustained” by the prayers of people worldwide, Pope Francis said, “Sisters and brothers, I thank you very much for your prayers. At this time of physical weakness, they help me to feel God's closeness, compassion and tenderness even more.”
Pope Francis assured them, “I too am praying for you, and I ask you to entrust all those who suffer to the Lord together with me, especially those affected by war, poverty or natural disasters.”
He invited people worldwide to pray in particular for “the victims of the collapse of a building in Santo Domingo” that killed more than 220 people, that God may receive them into his peace “and comfort their families.”
The Jesuit pope recalled that April 15 “will mark the second anniversary of the beginning of the conflict in Sudan, in which thousands have been killed and millions of families have been forced to flee their homes.” The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports that 13 million people have been displaced by the war. Saying “the suffering of [the Sudanese] children, women and vulnerable people cries out to heaven and begs us to act,” the pope appealed yet again “to the parties involved” to “end the violence and embark on paths of dialogue.” He called on the international community to prove the help needed to the populations of that war-torn country.
The pope also asked people to “remember Lebanon, where the tragic civil war began fifty years ago” so that “with God's help” its people “may live in peace and prosperity.”
Yet again, Pope Francis called on people to pray that “peace may come at last to martyred Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, and to South Sudan.” He entrusted this appeal to “Mary, Mother of Sorrows” asking that she “may obtain this grace for us and help us to live this Holy Week with faith.”
After greeting the pilgrims at the end of Mass, Pope Francis was taken in his wheelchair back into the basilica where he prayed at the tomb of St. Peter the Apostle, and at the monument to Benedict XV, before returning to Santa Marta.
It remains to be seen whether his participation at other Holy Week ceremonies will follow today’s pattern, meaning a brief appearance at the end of each one. The Vatican has not given any indication so far as to what will happen.
