Pope Francis appears in person at St. Peter's Square to mark the start of Holy Week
A recovering Pope Francis made a surprise appearance in St. Peter's Square on Palm Sunday, offering a hopeful sign of his progress after battling severe pneumonia, News.Az informs via CBS News.
The 88-year-old pontiff was brought in a wheelchair down a ramp to the main altar, where he issued a brief greeting wishing more than 20,000 faithful a "Good Palm Sunday, a good Holy Week." Francis was not wearing nasal tubes for supplemental oxygen, as he had during a similar appearance last Sunday.
On his way back to St. Peter's Basilica from where he had emerged, Francis blessed a rosary and offered candy to a boy who greeted him.
The Argentinian pope is entering his fourth week of convalescence during which doctors have advised him to avoid crowds.
While Francis is clearly eager to show he is feeling better, he has not spoken more than a few words in public as he recovers from a severe respiratory crisis. The Vatican said it was waiting to advise on what role he may play in upcoming Holy Week events leading up to Easter Sunday.
This week he met privately with King Charles III and Queen Camilla. He made an impromptu tour of St. Peter's Basilica, stopping to pray and to thank a pair of restorers for their work on the basilica's masterpieces.
On Saturday, the eve of Holy Week, Francis went to the St. Mary Major Basilica in central Rome to pray privately before a favorite icon of the Virgin Mary, Salus Populi Romani. The basilica, which he typically visits before and after his foreign trips, was also his first stop after leaving the Gemelli hospital on March 23.
In the traditional Sunday blessing, the pontiff thanked the faithful for their prayers.
"At this time of physical weakness, they help me to feel God's closeness, compassion and tenderness even more," he said in a blessing delivered as a text.
The pope offered prayers for those suffering in the conflict in Sudan, which marks its second anniversary on Tuesday, and for Lebanon, where a civil war began 50 years ago, as well as for peace in Ukraine, the Middle East, Congo, Myanmar and South Sudan.
In a prepared Palm Sunday homily read by a top Vatican cardinal, Francis urged the faithful to carry the cross "of those who suffer around us" to mark the start of the solemn Holy Week.
Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, vice dean of the College of Cardinals, led the celebrations, leading a procession of cardinals around the piazza's central obelisk carrying an ornately braided palm that recalls Jesus' triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, when crowds waved palm branches to honor him.
The initial welcome contrasts with the suffering that follows, leading up to his crucifixion, which Christians observe on Good Friday, followed by his resurrection, celebrated on Easter Sunday.
The faithful emerged from St. Peter's Square carrying blessed palm fronds or olive branches to mark the occasion.
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