• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Pope Francis celebrates Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 10, 2022. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Victory is not raising a flag on pile of rubble, pope says on Palm Sunday

April 11, 2022
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Crisis in Ukraine, Feature, News, Vatican, World News

En Español

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Jesus obeyed the most challenging of commandments: to love one’s enemies; and he invites humanity to do the same by breaking a vicious cycle of evil, sorrow and hatred with love and forgiveness, Pope Francis said on Palm Sunday.

“As disciples of Jesus, do we follow the master, or do we follow our own desire to strike back?” he asked in his homily April 10.

Pope Francis began Holy Week with Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square with an estimated 50,000 people — the first time large numbers of people could participate since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago.

He also made a heartfelt appeal for a cease-fire by warring parties and the start of a “real negotiation,” even if it requires “some sacrifice for the good of the people.”

Pope Francis holds palm fronds as he celebrates Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican April 10, 2022. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

“What kind of victory will it be to plant a flag on a pile of rubble?” he said after the Mass and before leading the Angelus prayer. “Put down the weapons. Let an Easter truce begin.” 

Clearly referring to the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, the pope did not specifically name which conflict he was talking about, saying Christ died to be victorious over sin and death, “not over someone and against someone else.”

However, he denounced this “endless” war, which “daily places before our eyes heinous massacres and atrocious cruelty committed against defenseless civilians. Let us pray about this.”

A war aiming for victory according to the logic of the world, the pope said, “is only the way to lose.” It is better to let the victor be Jesus, who carried the cross and died to free people from evil and so life, love and peace might reign.

Palm Sunday, which marks the start of Holy Week, commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and the beginning of his passion.

Because of ongoing difficulty walking and his doctor’s advice to rest, Pope Francis did not take part in the traditional procession to the obelisk in the center of the square but was driven by car to the altar before the start of the ceremony.

Dozens of young people carried palm branches, and bishops, cardinals and the pope held “palmurelli,” large woven palms. All the pilgrims in the square were given olive branches donated by Italian olive oil producers and several people also held large rainbow “peace” flags or smaller flags of Ukraine and other countries.

After blessing the palms and listening to the Gospel reading of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, the young people, bishops, cardinals and deacons processed to the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica for the main part of the Mass, which included the reading of the Passion.

In his homily, Pope Francis highlighted how Jesus “obeyed the most demanding of his commandments: that we love our enemies.”

“How often we spend time looking back on those who have wronged us! How often we think back and lick the wounds that other people, life itself and history have inflicted on us,” he said.

Instead, Jesus teaches humanity “to break the vicious circle of evil and sorrow. To react to the nails in our lives with love, to the buffets of hatred with the embrace of forgiveness,” he said.

When people resort to violence, he said, they forget about God, their father, and “about others, who are our brothers and sisters. We lose sight of why we are in the world and even end up committing senseless acts of cruelty.”

“We see this in the folly of war, where Christ is crucified yet another time,” the pope said. “Christ is once more nailed to the cross in mothers who mourn the unjust death of husbands and sons. He is crucified in refugees who flee from bombs with children in their arms. He is crucified in the elderly left alone to die; in young people deprived of a future; in soldiers sent to kill their brothers and sisters.”

If people want to see if they truly belong to Christ, “let us look at how we behave toward those who have hurt us,” the pope said.

The Lord asks people respond the way he does: by showing “compassion and mercy to everyone, for God sees a son or a daughter in each person. He does not separate us into good and bad, friends and enemies. We are the ones who do this, and we make God suffer,” the pope said.

“Brothers and sisters, in the course of this week, let us cling to the certainty that God can forgive every sin, bridge every distance and turn all mourning into dancing,” the pope said.

With Jesus, things are never over, and it is never too late, he said.

“With God, we can always come back to life. Take courage! Let us journey toward Easter with his forgiveness,” he said.

“Gazing upon our violent and tormented world, he never tires of repeating: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

At the end of the Mass, the pope rode in the open popemobile to wave to and greet the crowd in the square and along the long boulevard leading to the main square, again the first time since before the pandemic began.

Read More Vatican News

West Virginia parishes, people help Ukrainians find safe haven in Mountain State

Rosary project supplies ‘long-range, heart-changing weapons’ to Ukraine

Bishop calls ‘reproductive justice’ lecture series with abortion doula ‘scandal,’ ‘unworthy’ of Notre Dame university

Movie Review: ‘In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis’

Church calls for ‘international protection of holy sites’ after attack on church at Tomb of the Virgin Mary in Jerusalem

Sister Joan Cooper, O.S.F., dies at 94

Copyright © 2022 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Carol Glatz

Catholic News Service is a leading agency for religious news. Its mission is to report fully, fairly and freely on the involvement of the church in the world today.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Archdiocese dispenses with meatless obligation for St. Patrick’s Day
  • Pathfinders: Five Archdiocese of Baltimore women who made history
  • Trainor to retire from post as Mount St. Mary’s president in 2024
  • Movie Review: ’65’
  • Sister Mary Kathleen Marie Saffa dies at 86

| Latest Local News |

Sister Joan Cooper, O.S.F., dies at 94

Pathfinders: Five Archdiocese of Baltimore women who made history

Sister Elizabeth Ellen Kane, O.S.F., dies at 81

| Latest World News |

West Virginia parishes, people help Ukrainians find safe haven in Mountain State

Rosary project supplies ‘long-range, heart-changing weapons’ to Ukraine

Bishop calls ‘reproductive justice’ lecture series with abortion doula ‘scandal,’ ‘unworthy’ of Notre Dame university

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • West Virginia parishes, people help Ukrainians find safe haven in Mountain State
  • Rosary project supplies ‘long-range, heart-changing weapons’ to Ukraine
  • Bishop calls ‘reproductive justice’ lecture series with abortion doula ‘scandal,’ ‘unworthy’ of Notre Dame university
  • Movie Review: ‘In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis’
  • Church calls for ‘international protection of holy sites’ after attack on church at Tomb of the Virgin Mary in Jerusalem
  • Sister Joan Cooper, O.S.F., dies at 94
  • Papal message to focus on people’s right not to migrate
  • Medically changing person’s sex characteristics to those of opposite sex ‘not morally justified,’ say bishops
  • Pope Francis is praised in U.N. talks for efforts to combat anti-Muslim prejudice

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED