Pope Francis makes brief appearance at end of Palm Sunday Mass

“Have a good Palm Sunday. Have a good Holy Week,” the Pope said with a strained voice from the stage in St Peter’s Square on April 13. He was not using a nasal cannula to receive oxygen during his public appearance – unlike the week before, when he had come to the square at the end of Mass to a deliver a blessing.

The Vatican also released a video of the Pope in St Peter’s Basilica after the Mass. He stopped to pray before the tombs of St Peter, St Pius X and Pope Benedict XV, who led the Church from 1914 to 1922.

Despite a two-month convalescence prescribed by his doctors following his release from hospital on March 23, Pope Francis had made several surprise public appearances in the previous week.

He delivered a blessing in St Peter’s Square at the end of the Mass for the Jubilee of the Sick and Health Care Workers on April 6, prayed before the newly restored tomb of Pope Urban VIII in St Peter’s Basilica on April 10, while dressed in casual attire, and went to the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome to pray on April 12.

As of April 13, the Vatican had not confirmed which Holy Week liturgies the Pope may attend.

On Palm Sunday, the Pope’s homily was read by Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, subdean of the College of Cardinals, who celebrated the Mass. In the homily, Pope Francis reflected on Simon of Cyrene, the man forced by Roman soldiers to carry the cross behind Jesus.

Simon, the Pope said, did not speak but simply acted, and in doing so became part of salvation history.

The Pope wrote: “Between him and Jesus, there is no dialogue; not a single word is spoken. Between him and Jesus, there is only the wood of the cross.”

Carrying the cross means more than bearing personal suffering, he continued. It means stepping into the pain of others and walking beside them.

“To carry the cross of Christ is never in vain,” he wrote. “It is the most tangible way for us to share in his redemptive love.”

Pope Francis invited Christians to reflect on how they respond to the suffering of others – with “anger or pity, compassion or annoyance” – and to recognise Christ in the people whose lives are burdened by pain and injustice.

FULL STORY

On Palm Sunday, recovering pope says to carry the cross with compassion (By Justin McLellan/Catholic News Service)