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# Palm Sunday was usually marked by Mass in Saint Peter's Square, but for the second year running the ceremony is taking place under strict coronavirus restrictions
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/obychno-nachalo-strastnoi-nedeli-otmechalos-messoi-na-ploshchadi-sviatogo-petra-no-vot-uzhe-vtoroi-god-tseremoniia-prokhodit-v-usloviiakh-strogikh-ogranichenii-sviazannykh-s-koronavirus/
- Published: 2021-03-28T10:18:25.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:41:22.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Faith, Society, Rome

Palm Sunday was usually marked by Mass in Saint Peter's Square, but for the second year running the ceremony is taking place under strict coronavirus restrictions. In Italy the lockdown will last until Easter Sunday. In today's homily at the Altar of the Chair of Saint Peter, the Pope called on Christians to be amazed by Christ, and not merely to admire him. Pope Francis once again asks the faithful to reflect on the greatness of life, which lies not in career advancement and the accumulation of property, but in the awareness that we are loved, and in discovering the beauty of loving others. In his address Francis also resorted to an old rhetorical figure, recalling that the very same people who cried "Hosanna" to Jesus as he entered Jerusalem cried "Crucify him!" at his trial. "Amazement is not the same as admiration. Admiration can be worldly, because it follows its own tastes and expectations.. Even today there are people who admire Jesus for his beautiful words and because by his example he changed history, but they do not allow him to change themselves, refusing to follow in his footsteps." The Pope said that Jesus was raised high upon the cross in order to descend into the abyss of our suffering. He experienced our deepest sorrows: failure, the loss of everything, betrayal by a friend, even abandonment by God. "Now, at the foot of the cross, there can be no mistake, when God revealed himself and reigns only with the disarming power of love."