Catholic leader prays for Germanwings crash victims on Palm Sunday

oge okonkwo

March 30, 2015 11:48 AM

Tens of thousands of pilgrims held olive and palm branches aloft as they joined His Holiness in St Peter's Square

Pope Francis prays during Palm Sunday Mass

Pope Francis led mass at the Vatican to celebrate Palm Sunday, marking the beginning of Holy Week which culminates on Easter Sunday.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims held olive and palm branches aloft as they joined His Holiness in St Peter's Square.

He then said a special prayer for the victims of Tuesday's Germanwings Airbus A320 crash in the French Alps.

"I entrust to The Virgin Mary's intercession the victims of Tuesday's tragic plane crash," he said. "Those who died included a group of German students, " the Pope prayed.

In keeping with the simple tone of his 2-year-old papacy, Francis leaned on a plain wooden pastoral staff instead of a traditionally more ornate one as he stood under a red canopy on the basilica steps.

In his homily during the Mass, Francis – who last month denounced the killing of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by Islamic State militants in Libya – paid tribute to those he said were being killed for their faith today.

The Palm Sunday celebration marks Jesus Christ's entry into Jerusalem before his arrest and crucifixion, when the people of the city laid palm branches in his path.

oge okonkwo