Palm Sunday 2022

Celebrating Palm Sunday Mass before crowds in St. Peter's Square for the first time since the pandemic, Pope Francis called for a truce.

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In the course of this week, let us cling to the certainty that God can forgive every sin. He forgives everyone. He can bridge every distance, ...

Let us now do the same, in silence, in our hearts, and repeat: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. For Christ constantly intercedes for us before the Father (cf. Heb 7:25). Gazing upon our violent and tormented world, he never tires of repeating: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. To react to the nails in our lives with love, to the buffets of hatred with the embrace of forgiveness. Brothers and sisters, in the course of this week, let us cling to the certainty that God can forgive every sin. In the hell of this world, he saw heaven opening up: “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (v. 43). This is the marvel of God’s forgiveness, which turned the last request of a man condemned to death into the first canonization of history. Just as in the parable of the wedding feast, where the father of the groom sends his servants into the streets and says: “Invite everybody: white, black, good and bad, everybody, the healthy, the sick, everybody…” (cf. Mt 22:9-10). The love of Jesus is for everyone; everyone has the same privilege: that of being loved and forgiven. Let us look to Jesus on the cross and realize that we have never been looked upon with a more gentle and compassionate gaze. Let us look to Jesus on the cross and understand that we have never received a more loving embrace. Let us look to Jesus on the cross and realize that greater words were never spoken: Father, forgive. One of his words, in particular, marked the difference with regard to the mantra “save yourself.” He said: “Father, forgive them” (v. 34). Pope Francis is pictured near palm fronds in the form of a cross as he prepares to greet the crowd at the conclusion of Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on April 10, 2022. The mantra “save yourself” collides with the words of the Savior who offers his self.