Pope Francis delights Palm Sunday Crowd

Pope Francis delights Palm Sunday
Crowd

Pope
Francis greets the faithful in St. Peter's Square for Palm Sunday on March 24,
2013. Credit: Sabrina Fusco/EWTN News.
Vatican City, (EWTN News/CNA):
Although his remarks were few before praying the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square,
Pope Francis pleased the crowd of 250,000 by spending almost half an hour
greeting them afterward.
Once the final blessing for Palm Sunday Mass was
given, Pope Francis went straight into his pre-Angelus address and the
recitation of the Marian prayer that he normally presides over at noon every
Sunday.
At the end of this celebration,” the Pope said,
“we invoke the intercession of the Virgin Mary, that she may accompany us during
Holy Week. May she, who followed her Son with faith all the way to Calvary, help
us to walk behind him, carrying his Cross with serenity and love, so as to
attain the joy of Easter.”
His homily for the Mass contained many of the same
themes, focusing on the need for Christians to joyfully embrace the Cross and to
live lives of generosity.
Pope Francis then proceeded to spend almost 30
minutes in the square, taking his time as he went up and down each aisle,
sometimes stopping the popemobile and walking over to the crowd barriers to
shake hands, hug people and kiss children.
The faithful warmly received his signs of
closeness and his familiarity, which at one point included him giving thumbs-up
to a man he passed in the popemobile.
At the end of his exuberant trip through the
crowd, a blind young man was brought to him. He hugged Pope Francis and spoke
with him for a few moments.
Some members of the Pope’s security detail then
lifted up a few people in wheelchairs so they could receive blessings from the
Holy Father.