Of the thousands of people packed into the Paul VI Audience Hall for Pope Francis’ weekly general audience, two visitors received special praise from the pope for their unlikely friendship.

Contemplating Christ’s passion should inspire Christians to be more patient in the face of their own suffering and trials, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis told Catholics in the Holy Land that he knows Holy Week this year is “so overshadowed by the Passion and, as yet, so little by the Resurrection.”

For the first time in his 11-year papacy, Pope Francis has chosen to write his own meditations for the Good Friday Way of the Cross service at Rome’s Colosseum, the head of the Vatican press office said.

The fight against illegal drugs and narcotrafficking must target not just drug supplies, but also the demand for drugs through prevention programs and assistance, Pope Francis said.

– Young people need to understand how much Christ loves them unconditionally and how much the church needs their voices and presence, Pope Francis said.

Meeting hundreds of Nigerian Catholics who live, work and study in Rome, Pope Francis asked them to make their Rome parishes places where cultural, ethnic and linguistic differences are respected and shared.

Media outlets have a responsibility to share the truth, not spread ideologies, Pope Francis said.

Dressed in red vestments, the color of the Passion, Pope Francis presided over the Mass, the solemn beginning of Holy Week, but he skipped the homily and did not have an aide read any prepared remarks.

The Palm Sunday procession at the foot of an 85-foot-tall Egyptian obelisk in St. Peter’s Square recalls the martyrdom of many early Christians and the fast-thinking foresight of an Italian Renaissance sea captain.