DThe Holy Week in the Eternal City began terribly: cold, blizzard, rain. Rainfall is expected to decrease on Maundy Thursday, it will remain windy on Maundy Friday and clear up only on Saturday.

From a liturgical perspective, the weather is perfect. Heaven “weeps” for the last days of Christ's suffering here below and for his death on the cross. During Easter, when 2.4 billion Christians around the world celebrate the resurrection of Christ and the victory of life over death on the most important holiday of the church year, the sun is shining again in Rome. Hopefully.

Rome is the spiritual center of Catholic Christianity, the largest of the Christian denominations with 1.4 billion souls. Rome is the seat of the Pope, the “Successor of Peter”. The disciple and apostle Simon Peter, an eyewitness to Christ's death and resurrection in the Holy Land, was, according to tradition, the first bishop of Rome. It is said that Peter was martyred there, where he became, according to Jesus' prophecy, the “rock” on which Christ was going to build his church (Matthew 16:18).

Easter – a show of force for the Pope

During Easter, Catholics around the world look especially to Rome, perhaps even more than to Jerusalem. Tens of thousands of pilgrims and tourists flock to the city. Holy Week and the celebration of Easter demand a show of strength from the Pope. Although Francis has been visibly under the weather for weeks, although he can barely push himself from his wheelchair to the papal mobile, he still has to read sermons and speeches because he is too hoarse or heavy. to speak to him, the Vatican lists its Press Office announced the Pope's participation in all the important dates of Holy Week.

The celebrations started on Palm Sunday. The palm tree procession in St. Peter's Square, richly decorated with flowers, commemorated Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. But when the liturgy called for a papal sermon, Francis was surprisingly silent. He did not preach his sermon himself, nor did he hand over the text to a priest who concelebrated the mass with him. There was a strange silence in Peter's Square before the Mass resumed. At the end of the service, the Pope greeted cardinals, bishops and priests and was driven through St. Peter's Square in the Popemobile waving to the faithful, apparently in a good mood. To this day, the Vatican has not explained why the Palm Sunday Mass sermon was canceled for the first time in living memory.

On Maundy Thursday, Pope Francis celebrates Chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. Holy oils are consecrated and used throughout the church year for confirmation and anointing the sick. After that, Francis wants to meet and wash the feet of female prisoners at the Rebibbia prison in Rome. The tradition of foot washing recalls the Last Supper that Jesus celebrated with his disciples. At the beginning of his eleven-year pontificate, Francis knelt to wash his feet, now he does the ritual in a wheelchair.