“I too need the caresses of Jesus”

Pope francesco after hospitalization at the Gemelli hospital for infectious bronchitis , returned to the Vatican to celebrate Palm Sunday. The Pontiff he arrived in St. Peter’s Square crowded with the faithful aboard the popemobile, crossing the area between two wings of the crowd. The open car then stopped at the foot of the Obelisk, the Papa went down and started the solemn celebration, blessing the palms. Remembering the German clochard who died a few days ago under the Colonnade of St. Peter, “alone, abandoned”, the Holy Father underlined off the cuff during his homily: “He is Jesus for each of us. Many need our closeness, so many abandoned. I too need Jesus to caress me, bring me closer to me, and for this I go to find him in the abandoned, in the lonely”. The ceremony opens the rites of Holy Week.

Pope’s homily Today there are many “abandoned Christs”, the Pope said in his homily, underlining that “Jesus forsaken asks us to have eyes and a heart for the abandoned”. “There are entire peoples who are exploited and left to their own devices; there are poor people who live at the crossroads of our streets and whose eyes we don’t have the courage to meet; migrants who are no longer faces but numbers; rejected prisoners, people classified as problems But there are also many invisible, hidden abandoned Christs who are discarded with white gloves: unborn children, elderly people left alone, who can be your father, your mother, grandfather and grandmother abandoned in geriatric care; sick people not visited, disabled ignored, young people who feel a great emptiness inside without anyone really listening to their cry of pain and who find no other way than suicide”.

Small voice – The Pope opened the Palm Sunday celebration with a weak and slightly breathless voice. He wears liturgical vestments and reached his chair on foot with the help of a cane, with a slow step, without a wheelchair.