VATICAN CITY (AP) — A convalescing Pope Francis greeted the crowd in St. Peter’s Square on Palm Sunday, wishing more than 20,000 faithful a “Good Palm Sunday, a good Holy Week,” in yet another reassuring public sign of his recovery from a life-threatening battle with double pneumonia.
Many in the crowd reached out to touch Francis’ hand or garments as he was brought in a wheelchair down a ramp to the main altar, where he issued his brief greeting into a microphone. 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 stopped to bless a rosary, and offered candy to a boy who greeted him.
The 88-year-old Francis is entering his fourth week of convalescence, which is expected to last at least two months.
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.” For the ninth week, including his five-week hospitalization starting Feb. 14, the blessing was 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 civil war began 50 years ago, as well as for peace in Ukraine, the Middle East, Congo, Myanmar and South Sudan.
In a prepared 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.
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