Pope Francis makes surprise visit to St Peter’s Square following Palm Sunday Mass

Pope Francis continues to surprise the faithful. After his unscheduled visit to Santa Maria Maggiore on Saturday, the pontiff crossed St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican on Sunday morning in his wheelchair at the end of the Palm Sunday Mass.

Amid applause and prayers, the pontiff greeted and blessed the faithful. He stopped a few times to greet nuns and children, giving them sweets. After completing the tour of the square, the pope went back up to his rooms in Santa Marta.

“When we see the multitude of men and women who hate and violence throw on the way to Calvary, let us remember that God transforms this way into a place of redemption, because he walked it by giving his life for us. How many Cyrenians carry the cross of Christ! Do we recognise them? Do we see the Lord in their faces, torn by war and misery? In the face of the atrocious injustice of evil, carrying the cross of Christ is never in vain, indeed, it is the most concrete way of sharing his saving love,” the Pope wrote in his homily for the Palm Sunday Mass read by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri in a square packed with the faithful.

“The passion of Jesus becomes compassion when we reach out our hand to those who can no longer bear it, when we lift up those who have fallen, when we embrace those who are discouraged. Brothers, sisters, in order to experience this great miracle of mercy, let us choose during Holy Week how to carry the cross: not around our necks, but in our hearts,” he continued. “Not only our own, but also that of those who suffer next to us; perhaps of that unknown person whom chance – but is it really chance? – has brought us together. Let us prepare for the Lord’s Easter by becoming cyrenees for one another.”

Recovering between surprise visits

Pope Francis is still recovering after 38 days at the Agostino Gemelli polyclinic in Rome for double pneumonia. He continues to go about his business, although without holding public religious ceremonies, and has appeared in public several times in the past week. On Thursday he made a surprise visit to St. Peter’s and on Saturday to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

On Wednesday he had already met the British royals Charles III and Camilla, in an unscheduled meeting. Last Sunday he returned to St. Peter’s Square for the first time to greet the faithful at the mass for the Jubilee of the sick and healthcare workers.