Credit: GIUSEPPE LAMI / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
(CNN) -
Pope Francis offered a reduced mass to commemorate Palm Sunday, the first day of Christian Holy Week before Easter.
Like last year, Francis led the celebration inside St. Peter's Basilica in front of a small crowd socially estranged due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Holy See's official press website Vatican News reported.
Millions watched the event via television, radio broadcasts and live broadcast, according to Vatican News.
Pope Francis at the Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on March 28, 2021 at the Vatican, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Credit: GIUSEPPE LAMI / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
"Let us ask for the grace to be amazed," Francis said in his homily, arguing that "a Christian life without wonder becomes monotonous and gloomy."
"We have to go beyond admiration of Jesus," he added, inviting Christians to "follow in his footsteps, allow themselves to be challenged by him;
go from admiration to amazement ”.
LOOK: The pope decided to cut salaries in the Vatican
The pontiff concluded his remarks by inviting prayers for the victims of an explosion outside a Catholic church in the city of Makassar, Indonesia, on Sunday morning.
Fourteen people were hospitalized with injuries in what Indonesian police called a suicide bombing.
Italy, the first European country affected by the pandemic last year, is facing a third wave of infections and will be subject to national lockdown from April 3-5.
