Translate

Sunday, April 2, 2023

POPE FRANCIS PRESIDES OVER PALM SUNDAY LITURGY

Even Crux takes note of the smaller crowd which with all other popes would be packed:

On Sunday, Francis entered a roughly three-quarters full St. Peter’s Square in his popemobile and was driven to the obelisk at the center of St. Peter’s Square, where he began Palm Sunday Mass. After the cardinals and other concelebrants processed to the main altar, the pope followed in his popemobile and incensed the altar before taking his seat.


 The number of the Faithful in these outdoor Masses continues to drop dramatically. The central Cross once on the altar shunted to the side of the altar:









20 comments:

TJM said...

I guess he is not as popular as our resident papalator suggests. I would not walk across the street to see him

TJM said...

He should have used Latin for the Ordinary because we are a universal church. I guess he does not care for those of us who do not speak Italian. Figures

Anonymous said...

It is uplifting to have seen tens of thousands of Catholics (as well, perhaps, non-Catholics) gathered at Saint Peter's Square to worship God.

Many Catholics could not care less about worshiping God at Mass. Conversely, tens of thousands of Catholics today at Saint Peter's Square demonstrated their desire to assist at Holy Mass.

Good for our brothers and sisters who were there. They have set a good example for us.

==================================================================================

Here is Pope Francis' homily:

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254004/full-text-of-pope-francis-homily-for-palm-sunday-2023

Pope Francis blessed me via the following:

"On the cross, even as he felt utter abandonment, Jesus refused to yield to despair, this limit; instead, he prayed and trusted. He cried out his “why?” in the words of the Psalm (22:2), and commended himself into the hands of the Father..."

"In the hour of his abandonment, Jesus continued to trust. Even more: at the hour of abandonment, he continued to love his disciples who had fled, leaving him alone, and in the abandonment he forgave those who crucified him."

"Christ, in his abandonment, stirs us to seek him and to love him and those who are themselves abandoned. For in them we see not only people in need, but Jesus himself, but him, he is with them, abandoned: Jesus, who saved us by descending to the depths of our human condition."

Pax.

Mark Thomas

Anonymous said...

The following, to me, drives home the uplifting nature of today's homily with which we have been blessed by Pope Francis:

"In the hour of his abandonment, Jesus continued to trust. Even more: at the hour of abandonment, he continued to love his disciples who had fled, leaving him alone, and in the abandonment he forgave those who crucified him."

"Christ, in his abandonment, stirs us to seek him and to love him and those who are themselves abandoned."

"For in them we see not only people in need, but Jesus himself, but him, he is with them, abandoned: Jesus, who saved us by descending to the depths of our human condition. He is like one of them: abandoned unto death."

As Pope Francis has made clear, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has showered us with unfathomable love, mercy, and forgiveness.

Jesus has flooded the world with radical love, mercy, and forgiveness.
Pax.

Mark Thomas

TJM said...

Mark Thomas,

LOL! Are we to believe you or our lying eyes? You still have not been man enough to apologized to Father McDonald for lying about his statement and now you are disputing his statement that attendance at the Pope’s masses are down. Go to Confession!

Mark said...

TJM:

I don’t believe MT disputed Father McDonald’s claim that Mass attendance in St. Peter’s Square is down. What he said is: “It is uplifting to have seen tens of thousands of Catholics (as well, perhaps, non-Catholics) gathered at Saint Peter's Square to worship God.”

Father McDonald relayed Crux’s estimate that St. Peter’s Square was “roughly three-quarters full.” I have just checked, and St. Peter’s Square holds 300,000 people:

https://www.rome.net/st-peters-square

Three-quarters of 300,000 is 225,000, ergo MT’s “tens of thousands,”


Anonymous said...

Mark said..."I don’t believe MT disputed Father McDonald’s claim that Mass attendance in St. Peter’s Square is down. What he said is: “It is uplifting to have seen tens of thousands of Catholics (as well, perhaps, non-Catholics) gathered at Saint Peter's Square to worship God.”

Mark, thank you.

As you had noted, I did not dispute — not remotely — Father McDonald's comment in question in regard to today's attendance at Saint Peter’s Square.

Anybody who said that I had done so is a liar.

Pax.

Mark Thomas

TJM said...

Mark,

He still has not apologized for lying about Father McDonald’s statement some time ago and he ignores the main thrust of Father McDonald’s thread: the Pope is no longer drawing the crowds

He continuously engages in fantasies about a pope who has harmed the Church in various ways, by not dealing with the German apostasy, , who sows doctrinal confusion and displays a malicious cruelty towards what probably is the most faithful group of Catholics, the Latin Mass attendees.

Please don’t fuel his sickness

Anonymous said...

To the person here who had issued the false claim in question about me:

Pope Francis' holy, uplifting, homily today highlighted the radical love, mercy, and forgiveness that Jesus Christ has for us. In turn, as Catholics, we are to apply the above to each of God's children.

Therefore, I forgive the person in question who had issued the false claim against me.

My sins are too numerous not to have done so.

Do unto others...

Pax.

Mark Thomas

Mark said...

TJM:

I am not familiar with the episode “some time ago” to which you refer. I do think, though, that we should be careful about the words we use to characterize one another here.

For example, I would not conclude, as Mark T seemed to in his 4:28 p.m. post, that anyone who says (you?) that he disputes Father McDonald’s claim about the reduced crowd size in St. Peter’s Square today is a “liar.” Such a person could simply be mistaken or overly hasty in drawing as a necessary inference what is only a possible, arguable inference. As suggested in my previous comment, I did not understand what Mark T said as disputing Father McDonald’s claim, and he has subsequently confirmed this understanding of his comment.

More generally, Mark T’s somewhat extreme defenses of Pope Francis help to balance the sometimes (often?) extreme attacks on him by others here, and I find that to be refreshing and healthy because, as in so many things in our hyper-polarized times, the truth likely lies somewhere in between the extremes.

And aren’t we all “sick” in one way or another?

Related, I don’t know whether it has been addressed on the Blog, but have you been watching the TV series “The Chosen”? I find it to be a very refreshing and inspiring portrayal of the Gospel stories (and creative back stories) and a very attractive portrayal of Jesus.

Paul said...

I thought the following might be relevant for this time of year:

Evelyn Waugh, in “The Spectator”, 1956: Waugh complained bitterly of the new Holy Week services…..

“….for centuries these had been enriched by devotions which were dear to the laity - the anticipation of the morning office of Tenebrae, the vigil at the Altar of Repose, the Mass of the Presanctified……Now nothing happens before Thursday evening. All Friday morning is empty. There is an hour or so in church on Friday afternoon. All Saturday is quite blank until late at night. The Easter Mass is sung at midnight to a weary congregation who are constrained to ‘renew their baptismal vows’ in the vernacular and later repair to bed. The significance of Easter as a feast of dawn is quite lost”.

Paul said...

Evelyn Waugh’s close friend Christopher Sykes wrote this 50 years ago about Waugh who had died in 1966:

“His dislike of the reform movement was not merely an expression of his conservatism, nor of aesthetic preferences. It was based on deeper things. He believed that in its long history the Church had developed a liturgy which enabled an ordinary, sensual man (as opposed to a saint who is outside generalisation) to approach God and be aware of sanctity and the divine. To abolish all this for the sake of up-to-dateless seemed to him not only silly but dangerous. When the Second Vatican Council met, Evelyn was not averse to reform…….but he could not bear the thought of modernised liturgy. ‘Untune that string’ he felt, and loss of faith would follow…….”

Waugh came close just before his death to becoming a member of the Greek Uniate Church, which was unaffected by any reform movement. He was only dissuaded by his close friend Dom Hubert van Zeller of Downside……Sykes wrote 50 years ago that whether Waugh’s fears (re a loss of faith for millions) were justified or not only “only the unerring sentence of time” can show.

Anonymous said...

Father McDonald, thank you for having permitted me to discuss Pope Francis' Palm Sunday homily.

Today, via his homily, our holy and great Culture of Life Roman Pontiff defended unborn children.

In regard to the Pope's following theme:

"Jesus, in his abandonment, asks us to open our eyes and hearts to all who find themselves abandoned."

Pope Francis declared:

"But there are also many Christs, there are many, many Christs, people who are abandoned, invisible, hidden, discarded with white gloves: unborn children..."

His Holiness, Pope Francis, in line with his holy, and great, Culture of Life successors, such as Popes Benedict XVI, and Saint John Paul II, has, again, and again, exhorted us today to respect, as well as defend, the lives of unborn children.

Pax.

Mark Thomas

Anonymous said...

Mark said..."For example, I would not conclude, as Mark T seemed to in his 4:28 p.m. post, that anyone who says (you?) that he disputes Father McDonald’s claim about the reduced crowd size in St. Peter’s Square today is a “liar.” Such a person could simply be mistaken or overly hasty in drawing as a necessary inference..."

Mark, I hope that the following will conclude my comments on this issue.

Mark, I believe that I am correct to have concluded that the person in question had lied.

I have reviewed his/her comments on this thread. He/she has commented twice in regard to the issue related to today's attendance at the Mass held in the Square.

Twice he or she has misrepresented that which I said in regard to the issue of attendance.

I have not disputed remotely Father McDonald's comments in question.

Mark, I find it difficult to believe that the other person is mistaken in regard to my comment in question.

In addition, the person in question has twice claimed here that I have lied about Father McDonald. That claim is preposterous.

It is clear that the person in question is inclined to engage in ill will against me.

Mark, thank you for your replies. Peace and good health to you and your family.

Pax.

Mark Thomas

TJM said...

Mark,

You are defending the indefensible. Do you oppose Jonathan Turley who is calling out the partisan shill in NY who is subverting the Rule of Law in coming up with a corrupt indictment of President Trump? If you do, I know you are just another corrupt, academic shill who could never make it in the real world. Meet me on the field if you have the guts!

Carter said...

I always wonder if these claims (often parroted by the papal haters) that attendance is particularly low are actually true. In fact the crowd for Palm Sunday 2010 under the reign of Benedict is basically identical to the crowd size for this years Palm Sunday Mass. So this post and Crux are incorrect that this Mass under Francis predecessors would be packed. Go to the 8:55 mark in this view from 2010 and see for yourselves. https://youtu.be/h5a7GhNnUgs

TJM said...

Mark,

For someone claiming to be a “law professor” you seem to emerge when a sick lefty emerges. Do you support:

1) exposing little children to drag queens;

2) killing the unborn as they come down the birth canal;

3) crushing faithful Catholics who prefer the Latin Mass;

4) opposing Jonathan Turley who believes persecuting President Trump by perverting the Rule if Law is just dandy;

5) destroying the livelihood of working men and women for the Global Warming Religion while its adherents fly in private jets and live on ocean front mansions ( think Obama and Monsieur Kerry)

Unless you address the above, please naff off

Anonymous said...

I said..."His Holiness, Pope Francis, in line with his holy, and great, Culture of Life successors, such as Popes Benedict XVI, and Saint John Paul II, has, again, and again, exhorted us today to respect, as well as defend, the lives of unborn children."

Sorry. I should have written "predecessors."

Anyway, Pope Francis' homily yesterday included the defense of unborn children.

Pope Francis' homily yesterday also called attention to:

"...children who are rejected and aborted;"

What a beautiful, powerful, pro-life homily!

Pax.

Mark Thomas

Mark said...

TJM:

Are you responding to me in your 9:30 p.m. and 11:03 p.m. posts? What you write there seems to be a complete non-sequitur to my comments, the more so as I was suggesting in my 7:16 p.m. post that accusing you of lying might have been misdirected. What on earth has Jonathan Turley and all the other things you list got to do with what we were talking about?

As I was defending you in my 7:16 post, your comment that I am “defending the indefensible” is somewhat ironic, no?

Rather than me “naffing off,” perhaps you were “napping off.” -:)

Mark said...

Thank you for the link, Carter. Facts can be awfully inconvenient sometimes, can’t they?