He dad He unexpectedly attended this Sunday from Ramos to the Plaza de San Pedro del Vaticano, where, in a wheelchair and without the need for oxygen, he greeted the faithful at the beginning of the Easter week.
“Good Palm Sunday, a good Holy Week,” he said on the central altar of the square, after appearing by surprise at the end of Ramos’ Mass, which marks the beginning of the rites of one of the most important moments of Catholicism.
The Pope greeted the Argentine cardinal Leonardo Sandri, who delegated the reading of his homily due to the slow recovery of his voice. However, he did not want to miss the contact with the faithful, which could be imposed on medical recommendations in the next liturgical celebrations.
Francisco, without the nasal cannulas on, walked among the faithful and stopped to exchange some words with a group of nuns and several children, with whom he showed gestures of complicity, while there were shouts of “Long live the Pope!”.
At the end of the Mass, Pope Francis joined the pilgrims and faithful in the square and wished them the best for Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week, the Vatican said in a statement.
As he added, the pontiff later, back to the basilica, stopped in prayer before the tomb of the apostle and in front of the monument dedicated to Benedict XV.
Pope Francis continues with surprise appearances in full convalescence
The last appearance of the Pontiff was last Sunday, April 6, also in the Vatican Square, during the jubilee of the sick. The Pope has left on two other occasions from the residence and received by surprise the British kings, Carlos and Camila, despite the fact that doctors estimated that he had to remain at least two months at rest.
On Thursday, April 10, the Pope appeared with dark pants, shirt and a poncho in the Basilica of San Pedro, which also toured in a wheelchair to observe the restoration of the area of the chair and pray in the tomb of Pius X. This Saturday, April 12, he went to the Basilica of Santa María la Mayor.
On March 23, the Pope left the Gemelli Hospital in Rome after 38 days of admission due to bilateral pneumonia and other respiratory problems, although this has not been his only relapse.
Take your hand to which you can’t
The Pope asked to bring out the hand that he can no longer, in the homily read in his name during the Mass of Palm Sunday, the celebration that opens the rites of Holy Week, marked this year by his convalescence.
Jesus’ passion becomes compassion when we have the hand that can no longer, when we raise the one who is fallen, when we embrace the one who is disconsolate, said the Pope in his homily, read by Cardinal Sandri before more than 20 thousand people waiting for Francisco.
The square was adorned with olive branches and palms, that the faithful, religious and members of the curia had behaved in procession before the Mass, in memory of the triumphal entry in Jerusalem of Jesus of Nazareth, an ancient rite of the Catholic religion dating from the fourth century.
“Brothers, sisters, to experience this great miracle of mercy, we decide during Holy Week how to take the cross; not to the neck, but in the heart,” said Francisco’s text.
I remember for the victims of Santo Domingo
On such an intense branches, the Pope did not forget the 226 fatalities of the collapse of the roof of a disco in the Dominican Republic, and asked that God welcome them in his peace, during the Sunday prayer of the Angelus, which was published in writing.
“Sisters and brothers, I thank you very much for your prayers. In this moment of physical weakness they help me feel even more the closeness, compassion and tenderness of God,” he said.
Then, the Pope asked the faithful: that you entrust all those who suffer, especially those affected by war, poverty or natural disasters. In particular, that God welcomes the victims of the collapse of a place in Santo Domingo, and holds his relatives