Pope Francis began Holy Week by celebrating Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square, urging people to be meek and young at heart, quoting his own grandmother, as a reminder of the old folks’ wisdom, in reference to wealth: “You can’t take it with you”.
Consistent with his new, spontaneous style, Pope Francis apparently broke off from the prepared text of his prepared homily. He pleaded with the faithful to lead simple lives and defy the temptation to be unhappy when life’s impediments and difficulties inevitably come their way. “Don’t let yourselves be robbed of hope! Don’t let yourselves be robbed of hope!” the Pope said, in an obvious reference to the economic difficulties people all over the world are struggling with.
Reminding of the triumphant welcome of Jesus into Jerusalem, Pope Francis affirmed that He “awakened so many hopes in the heart, above all among humble, simple, poor, forgotten people, those who don’t matter in the eyes of the world.” The Church today, he added, just like Jesus 2,000 years ago, wanted to spread the same message of hope. He once more urged the defence of the environment, citing “our personal sins: our failures in love and respect towards God, towards our neighbour and towards the whole of creation”.
Towards the end of his homily, the pontiff said: “I look forward joyfully to next July in Rio de Janeiro. I will see you in that great city in Brazil.” He added that the meeting in Rio would be a “sign of faith for the whole world”, confirming that he will attend a Catholic youth jamboree in Rio de Janeiro, which is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of young pilgrims from around the world.
Francis presided over the Mass at an altar protected by a white canopy, on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica. The plaza brimmed over with a multitude of pilgrims, Romans and tourists, who attempted to get a glimpse of the Pope. At the end of the two-hour Mass, Pope Francis removed his red vestments, and climbed into an open-topped Popemobile, wearing his plain white cassock and skull cap. The car circled through the thrilled crowd. He bent forward to shake hands, kiss and pat the heads of infants, and even kiss the hand of a woman who had her arm stretched toward him.
The pope also came down from the vehicle to kiss a woman in the crowd and chat briefly with her. A man leaned over a barrier to squeeze the pontiff on a shoulder, scaring the bodyguards but also sending a message of familiarity with the pope unknown in our lives.
In the continuing trend to show that we are facing a transforming papacy, Pope Francis has decided to alter some traditional Vatican Holy Week observances. On Holy Thursday, for example, he will visit a reformatory in the Roman outskirts, where he will symbolically wash the feet of 12 young prisoners. The ceremony was performed, by all his predecessors in living memory, in the Vatican or in a Rome Basilica, with priests symbolizing the 12 apostles. He has also invited simple workers, such as the Vatican gardeners and street cleaners, to attend his morning Masses in the Vatican hotel where is still residing, since he as yet has not moved into the papal apartments in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.
[USA] ” Pope Francis Celebrates Palm Sunday Mass”
