Friday, October 3, 2025
  • Who’sWho Africa AWARDS
  • About TimeAfrica Magazine
  • Contact Us
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • Magazine
  • World News

Home » World News » Rebounding Pope Francis marks Palm Sunday in Vatican square

Rebounding Pope Francis marks Palm Sunday in Vatican square

April 4, 2023
in World News
0
Pope Francis blesses faithful with olive and palm branches before celebrating the Palm Sunday's mass in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican Sunday, April 2, 2023 a day after being discharged from the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital in Rome, where he has been treated for bronchitis, The Vatican said. The Roman Catholic Church enters Holy Week, retracing the story of the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection three days later on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Filippo Monteforte, pool)

Pope Francis blesses faithful with olive and palm branches before celebrating the Palm Sunday's mass in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican Sunday, April 2, 2023 a day after being discharged from the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital in Rome, where he has been treated for bronchitis, The Vatican said. The Roman Catholic Church enters Holy Week, retracing the story of the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection three days later on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Filippo Monteforte, pool)

540
SHARES
4.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Bundled in a long, white coat and battling a hoarse voice, Pope Francis presided over Mass in St. Peter’s Square before tens of thousands of faithful on Palm Sunday, a day after he left a Rome hospital where he was treated for bronchitis.

The sun broke through the clouds during the Mass, one of the longest services on the Church’s calendar, as Francis, red vestments placed over his coat, sat in a chair under a canopy erected in the square.

He took his place there after standing and clutching a braided palm branch in a popemobile that drove at the tail end of a long, solemn procession of cardinals, other prelates and rank-and-file Catholics. Participants carried palm fronds or olive tree branches.

Francis, 86, received antibiotics administered intravenously during his three-day stay. His last previous appearance in St. Peter’s Square saw him conduct his regular Wednesday public audience. He was taken to Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic that same day after feeling ill.

His voice sounded strong as he opened the Mass, but quickly turned strained. Despite the hoarseness, Francis read a 15-minute-long homily, occasionally adding off-the-cuff remarks for emphasis or gesturing with a hand.

The homily focused on moments when people feel “extreme pain, love that fails, or is rejected or betrayed.” Francis cited “children who are rejected or aborted,” as well as broken marriages, “forms of social exclusion, injustice and oppression, (and) the solitude of sickness.”

Deviating from his prepared speech, Francis spoke about a homeless German man who recently died, “alone, abandoned,” under the colonnade circling St. Peter’s Square, where homeless persons often sleep.

“I, too, need Jesus to caress me and be near to me,” Francis said.

Concern over abandonment threaded through his homily. “Entire peoples are exploited and abandoned; the poor live on our streets and we look the other way; migrants are no longer faces but numbers; prisoners are disowned, people written off as problems,” Francis said.

The pope also referred to “young people who feel a great emptiness inside without anyone really listening to their cry of pain,” and who “find no other path but that of suicide.”

Palm Sunday marks Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem in the time leading up to his crucifixion, which Christians observe on Good Friday.

At the end of Mass, Francis greeted the Romans, tourists and pilgrims who had flocked to the square, noting that many in the crowd of 60,000 had come from afar.

“I thank you for your participation and prayers, that in the last days you intensified,” the pontiff said, a reference to the many wishes he received for a quick recovery during his hospitalization. “Thanks!”

Francis’ appearance on April 2 opened a heavy schedule of Holy Week appointments, including a Holy Thursday Mass at a juvenile prison in Rome. Holy Week culminates on April 9 with Easter Sunday Mass, which recalls the Christian belief in Jesus’ resurrection.

Francis said Holy Week will see “more intense prayer” for the “martyred Ukrainian people.” In a reference to Russia’s war in Ukraine, he noted that the olive branches Catholics wave on Palm Sunday are symbols of Jesus’ peace.

Then, the cardinals greeted Francis one by one, some shaking his hand or chatting briefly with him as he sat in the wheelchair he uses to cope with a chronic knee problem. At least one prelate gave him a kiss on each cheek.

Finally, Francis went back aboard the open-topped popemobile to loop around and through the square, as he smiled and waved to the faithful, many of whom held aloft national flags. At one point during the nearly 20-minute jaunt over the cobblestones, he was driven down a stretch of the boulevard lined with cafes and souvenir shops that leads to St. Peter’s Square.

National Catholic Reporter

ReadAlso

“Commercializing the Eucharist Must Never Be Tolerated”: Vatican Envoy Warns Nigerian Priests

“Go to Hell With the Bishop”: Catholic Priest Sparks Outrage After Disrupting Mass in Aba

ADVERTISEMENT
Tags: CatholicPalm SundayPope FrancisVatican
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

INTERVIEW | 2024: South Sudan sits at a fork in the road, faces stark choices — UN envoy

Next Post

Finland becomes 31st member of NATO, Sweden soon

You MayAlso Like

King Charles and Prince Harry did not meet during the Duke's recent visit to the UK. (Image: Getty)
UK

Prince Harry issues strongly-worded statement over King Charles meeting

September 28, 2025
President Donald Trump attends a meeting with leaders of Qatar, Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, during the United Nations General Assembly in New York. | Evan Vucci/AP
Middle-East

Trump ‘promised Arab leaders he would not let Israel annex the West Bank’

September 25, 2025
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy leaves the courtroom on Thursday after the verdict in his trial for illegal campaign financing from Libya.Alain Jocard / AFP - Getty Images
World News

French ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy sentenced to five years in prison in Libyan campaign-financing trial

September 25, 2025
4.Young leaders trained by We Can program designed and delivered 17 projects across schools and communities
World News

Award-winning Chill Lab youth mental health program impacted 146,000+ lives in two years with latest “We Can” student-led projects benefiting 17,000+ people

September 22, 2025
Two teenagers were sentenced to 12 years of hard labour in the gulag for watching banned South Korean TVCredit: BBC
World News

North Korea executing more people for watching foreign movies

September 14, 2025
World News

China’s Waste-to-Energy Plants Desperate for Fuel—Even Digging Up 20-Year-Old Garbage

September 14, 2025
Next Post

Finland becomes 31st member of NATO, Sweden soon

Away from aid, America needs to reimagine its relationship with Africa, create self-reliance for young, by Tony Elumelu

Discussion about this post

FIFA Strips South Africa of World Cup Qualifying Points After Administrative Blunder

The Guardian Newspaper Names Enugu Commissioner, Dr. Lawrence Ezeh, Amongst 65 Most Inspiring, Award-Winning Business Leaders

Egyptian ‘strong man’ pulls 700-ton ship with his teeth

Prince Harry issues strongly-worded statement over King Charles meeting

Barack Obama admits he had to ‘dig himself out of a hole’ with Michelle amid divorce rumors

French ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy sentenced to five years in prison in Libyan campaign-financing trial

  • British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

    1241 shares
    Share 496 Tweet 310
  • Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

    1067 shares
    Share 427 Tweet 267
  • Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

    973 shares
    Share 389 Tweet 243
  • ‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

    904 shares
    Share 361 Tweet 226
  • Crisis echoes, fears grow in Amechi Awkunanaw in Enugu State

    735 shares
    Share 294 Tweet 184
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

April 13, 2023

Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

December 27, 2022
Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

September 22, 2023
‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

March 21, 2023
Chief Mrs Ebelechukwu, wife of Willie Obiano, former governor of Anambra state

NIGERIA: No, wife of Biafran warlord, Bianca Ojukwu lied – Ebele Obiano:

0

SOUTH AFRICA: TO LEAVE OR NOT TO LEAVE?

0
kelechi iheanacho

TOP SCORER: IHEANACHA

0
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

WHAT CAN’TBE TAKEN AWAY FROM JONATHAN

0

The Guardian Newspaper Names Enugu Commissioner, Dr. Lawrence Ezeh, Amongst 65 Most Inspiring, Award-Winning Business Leaders

October 2, 2025

Poor sleep could make your brain age faster, study finds

October 2, 2025

Moroccans clash with police during protests against World Cup spending

October 1, 2025
ExxonMobil Foundation Brings STEM Regional Competition to African Energy Week

ExxonMobil Foundation Brings STEM Regional Competition to African Energy Week

September 30, 2025

ABOUT US

Time Africa Magazine

TIMEAFRICA MAGAZINE is an African Magazine with a culture of excellence; a magazine without peer. Nearly a third of its readers hold advanced degrees and include novelists, … READ MORE >>

SECTIONS

  • Aviation
  • Column
  • Crime
  • Europe
  • Featured
  • Gallery
  • Health
  • Interviews
  • Israel-Hamas
  • Lifestyle
  • Magazine
  • Middle-East
  • News
  • Politics
  • Press Release
  • Russia-Ukraine
  • Science
  • Special Report
  • Sports
  • TV/Radio
  • UAE
  • UK
  • US
  • World News

Useful Links

  • AllAfrica
  • Channel Africa
  • El Khabar
  • The Guardian
  • Cairo Live
  • Le Republicain
  • Magazine: 9771144975608
  • Subscribe to TIMEAFRICA MAGAZINE biweekly news magazine

    Enjoy handpicked stories from around African continent,
    delivered anywhere in the world

    Subscribe

    • About TimeAfrica Magazine
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS

    © 2025 TimeAfrica Magazine - All Right Reserved. TimeAfrica Magazine Ltd is published by Times Associates, registered Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    No Result
    View All Result
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
    • Politics
    • Column
    • Interviews
    • Gallery
    • Lifestyle
    • Special Report
    • Sports
    • TV/Radio
    • Aviation
    • Health
    • Science
    • World News

    © 2025 TimeAfrica Magazine - All Right Reserved. TimeAfrica Magazine Ltd is published by Times Associates, registered Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.