Pope Francis forgoes Palm Sunday homily that put his health to test

Pope Francis chose not to give a sermon at the Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the last minute. Peter’s Square, as the start of a busy Holy Week, will have a speech that is not tiring. However,it will test his declining health.

Francis has trouble with his knees and breathing, so he didn’t join the other cardinals in the procession around the obelisk at the beginning of the Mass. Instead, the 87-year-old pope blessed the palm leaves and olive branches carried by the faithful from the altar.

Francis was supposed to give a speech during the middle of the service, and a written copy had been given to reporters. However, when a helper gave Francis his glasses to start reading, the pope made it clear that he would not give the speech, and the crowd had to wait in silence.

Vatican officials didn’t say why right away. The Vatican press office later said instead of a sermon, there was a quiet time for prayer.

Francis said prayers during the whole service and asked for peace at the end of the Mass. He said he was thinking about the families of those killed in a terrible attack at a concert hall near Moscow. He also asked for prayers for the people of Ukraine and Gaza.

Vatican officials guessed about 60,000 people came to the Mass, which took place on a sunny, breezy day in the spring. Francis said hello to them from the car for a few minutes,driving around the square after the service.

Palm Sunday starts a busy week for Francis before Easter Sunday, when Christians remember that Jesus rose from the dead. On Thursday, Francis is supposed to go to a women’s prison in Rome to wash people’s feet as part of a tradition. On Friday, he will lead the torch lit Way of the Cross procession at Rome’s Colosseum,acting out the crucifixion of Christ.

The next day is Easter Vigil. Francis leads a solemn nighttime service in the basilica, and then has Easter Sunday Mass at St. [name]Peter stands in a square and gives a blessing from a balcony at noon.

The Holy Week is a busy time for popes, even when everything is going well. But this year, Francis has been dealing with illness all winter, which the Vatican has described as flu, bronchitis, or a cold. For the past few weeks, he has sometimes asked someone to read his speeches and lessons for him so he doesn’t have to do it himself.

On Sunday, no one else was asked to speak, and the sermon was not given. Vatican officials said the text was to be seen as if it never existed. Normally, the pope doesn’t give a speech at Easter, but he usually gives thoughts on Palm Sunday.

Even when he is not feeling unwell, Francis usually talks in a quiet voice and gets tired quickly. When he was young, he had surgery to remove part of one lung because of a bad lung infection.

Last year, he was very sick with bronchitis and had to go to the hospital for three days. But then he got better and was able to make it through Holy Week. He went to the hospital two times while he was pope to have surgery on his stomach. In 2021, he stayed in the hospital for 10 days to have part of his large intestine removed.

After the Mass, Francis prayed for peace for those suffering from war and asked for God to comfort the victims of the recent terrorist attack in Moscow.

Francis said he hopes the people who plan and do these terrible things will change their hearts, because God told us not to kill.

Francis asked people to remember Ukraine’s suffering without mentioning Moscow. He said that a lot of people in Ukraine don’t have electricity because their buildings and power lines were attacked. This is causing a lot of problems and could lead to an even bigger crisis.

“He asked to remember the people who died in Ukraine. “Let’s also think about Gaza, which is going through a lot of suffering, and many other places where there is war.