Pope Benedict called on Catholics to examine whether worldly desires had corrupted their faith, as he commemorated Palm Sunday before a crowd waving palm fronds and olive branches.
In a service to mark Jesus Christ's entry into Jerusalem a week before being crucified, Pope Benedict urged the faithful to shun greed and selfish egoism.
‘Is our faith pure and open enough?’ asked the Pope, seated on a dais in front of St Peter's Basilica, wearing red, gold and white vestments. ‘Do we perhaps let idols, through various means, enter in the world of our faith?’
Speaking to thousands of pilgrims packed in St Peter's Square on a cloudy day, he led a procession of cardinals and bishops carrying palm fronds in St Peter's Square to start the celebrations.
He then blessed palms and olive branches, symbols of peace, with holy water.
He closed celebrations with an emotional appeal for an end to violence in Iraq, recalling the death of a kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop whose body was found last week in the northern city of Mosul.
