Associated Press
VATICAN CITY - A drawn-looking Pope John Paul II, unable to preside over Palm Sunday Mass for the first time in his 26-year papacy, appeared at his apartment window to greet tens of thousands of pilgrims who filled St. Peter's Square.
The crowd cheered as the pope appeared at the third-floor window, decorated with a braided palm frond and the crimson papal banner, and waved an olive branch to pilgrims who jammed the sun-drenched square for the ceremony ushering in Holy Week.
He appeared for no more than a minute and did not speak. He put his hand on his face and pounded the lectern once just before the white curtains at his window were drawn closed. Vatican television did not zoom in close on John Paul as it has in his past window appearances at the Vatican and earlier at the Rome hospital that treated him for a breathing crisis.
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The Pope waves for a minute, News story!
Anyone else thinking: Weekend at Bernie's?
VATICAN CITY - A drawn-looking Pope John Paul II, unable to preside over Palm Sunday Mass for the first time in his 26-year papacy, appeared at his apartment window to greet tens of thousands of pilgrims who filled St. Peter's Square.
The crowd cheered as the pope appeared at the third-floor window, decorated with a braided palm frond and the crimson papal banner, and waved an olive branch to pilgrims who jammed the sun-drenched square for the ceremony ushering in Holy Week.
He appeared for no more than a minute and did not speak. He put his hand on his face and pounded the lectern once just before the white curtains at his window were drawn closed. Vatican television did not zoom in close on John Paul as it has in his past window appearances at the Vatican and earlier at the Rome hospital that treated him for a breathing crisis.
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The Pope waves for a minute, News story!
Anyone else thinking: Weekend at Bernie's?