Pope Francis marked a surreal Palm Sunday in an empty St. Peter’s Basilica, urging people living through the coronavirus pandemic not to be so concerned with what they lack but how they can ease the suffering of others.

The service, kicking off Holy Week events leading to Easter, usually attracts tens of thousands of people to a St. Peter’s Square bedecked with olive and palm trees. The service normally includes a long procession of cardinals, priests and faithful carrying palm fronds.

This time, it was held from a secondary altar behind the main one Francis normally uses and attended by only about two dozen people.

The symbolic procession was only several metres long and a few potted olive trees were brought in.

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