By Fortunato Pinto/Rome
The Pontiff celebrated Palm Sunday Mass at St. Peter’s in the presence of tens of thousands of faithful. During the Angelus he returned to call for a stop to the war in the Middle East and addressed a thought to the migrants who died at sea off Crete
Pope Leo XIV opened Holy Week celebrations on Sunday morning with a prayer in St Peter’s Square. Tens of thousands of worshippers packed the Vatican colonnades to attend the Holy Father’s Mass. Many brought olive branches and palm fronds to be blessed during the celebration.
‘Let us look to Jesus, who presents himself as the King of peace while war is being prepared all around him. He who stands firm in meekness while others are caught up in violence. He who offers himself as a caress for humanity, while others brandish swords and clubs. He who is the light of the world while darkness is about to cover the earth. He who came to bring life while the plan to condemn him to death is being carried out,’ the Pontiff said as he celebrated Mass, in a clear reference to the wars currently under way.
‘Brothers, sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of peace. A God who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war, who does not listen to the prayer of those who wage war and rejects it, saying: “Even if you multiply your prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood”,’ Leo XIV added.
Pope Leo XIV: ‘Lay down your arms, remember that you are brothers’
‘Looking to him, who was crucified for us, we see the crucified of humanity. In his wounds we see the injuries of so many women and men today. In his final cry to the Father we hear the weeping of those who are crushed, who are without hope, who are ill, who are alone,’ Leo XIV continued, celebrating Mass from the steps of St Peter’s. ‘And above all we hear the groan of pain of all those who are oppressed by violence and of all the victims of war.’
‘Christ, King of peace, still cries out from his cross: God is love! Have mercy! Lay down your arms, remember that you are brothers!’ was Leo XIV’s impassioned cry.
At the end of the celebration, Pope Leo XIV moved among the faithful, offering blessings and greeting children. As he made his way back inside the Vatican, a group of Spanish pilgrims shouted: ‘See you soon in Spain!’ The Pope, who will travel to Spain at the beginning of June, smiled and greeted them.
Leo XIV: ‘Let us pray for those who cannot celebrate the rites of the holy days’
Later, during the Angelus, Pope Leo XIV once again appealed for peace in the Middle East. ‘Dear brothers and sisters, at the beginning of Holy Week, we are more than ever close in prayer to the Christians of the Middle East, who are suffering the consequences of a brutal conflict and, in many cases, cannot fully live the rites of these holy days.’ As the Pope was speaking, news came from Jerusalem that the Israeli police had stopped Cardinal Pizzaballa and the Very Reverend Ieplo, preventing them from celebrating Mass at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
‘Precisely as the Church contemplates the mystery of the Lord’s Passion, we cannot forget all those who today share in his suffering in a very real way. Their ordeal challenges the conscience of everyone. Let us raise our plea to the Prince of peace, that he may sustain peoples wounded by war and open concrete paths of reconciliation and peace,’ the Pontiff said.
‘I also wish to commend to the Lord the seafarers who have fallen victim to the war: I pray for the dead, for the wounded and for their families. Land, sky and sea were created for life and for peace! And let us pray for all migrants who have died at sea, particularly for those who lost their lives in recent days off the island of Crete,’ Leo XIV went on.
The Holy Week programme
The week leading up to Easter will see the Pope engaged in a number of events. On Thursday 2 April he will preside over the Chrism Mass at 9:30 in St Peter’s Basilica, while at 17:30 the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be celebrated in the Basilica of St John Lateran.
On Friday 3 April the Pope will celebrate the Passion of the Lord at 17:00 in St Peter’s Basilica, while at 21:15 the traditional Way of the Cross will take place at the Colosseum, at the end of which Leo XIV will impart the apostolic blessing.
At 21:00 on Saturday 4 April, the Easter Vigil will begin in St Peter’s, while at 10:15 on Sunday 5 April the Easter Mass is scheduled in St Peter’s. This will be followed at 12:00 by the Urbi et Orbi blessing.
