Pope Francis presiding over Palm Sunday celebrations at St. Peter’s Square

Andrew Medichini/AP

Oudtshoorn, 2 April 2023 – Palm Sunday marks the start of one of the most full and beautiful liturgical periods of the Catholic Church’s liturgical year and it is on Palm Sunday that Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem is commemorated. Also called Passion Sunday, Palm Sunday introduces the time leading up to his crucifixion, which Christians observe on Good Friday.

Pope Francis, discharged from hospital only yesterday after suffering from a bronchial infection presided over the celebration. “I, too, need Jesus to caress me,” Francis said during his homily which focused on concern over abandonment. “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,” Pope Francis remarked.

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