Vatican: Thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square to mark the beginning of Holy Week, as Pope Francis pays tribute to those killed for their faith.
The Holy Week began with Palm Sunday yesterday and will end with Easter Sunday
A reference to the victims of Islamic State militants. Pope Francis said, “We think too of our brothers and sisters who are persecuted because they are Christians, the martyrs of our own time. There are many of them. They refuse to deny Jesus and they endure insult and injury with dignity. They follow him on his way. We can speak of a ‘cloud of witnesses’, the martyrs of today.”
Palm Sunday, the Bible says, marks the day Jesus was welcomed by the people of Jerusalem — days before he was crucified.
Holy Week, observed by the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholic, ends on Easter Sunday.
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