For the first time in Pope John Paul's papacy, Holy Week services leading up to Easter began without the Pontiff on Sunday and the faithful heard a cardinal compare the Pope's suffering to that of Christ. At the end of the Palm Sunday ceremony, the Pope, who left hospital a week ago, appeared at his window overlooking St Peter's Square for less than two minutes.
Looking gaunt and sitting, he waved an olive branch in the sign of the cross but did not speak.