On Palm Sunday last week, Pope Pius XI accepted a plaited, elaborately decorated palm branch from a member of the Bresca family of San Remo, which since 1585 has clung to its perquisite of supplying palms to pontiffs. This week, when the rest of Christendom joyously concludes its 40-day Lenten fast, Rome and the Pope were to pass their quietest Easter in years. Because of Sanctions and European unrest, few tourists or pilgrims arrived in Rome for Holy Week. Because of the war in Ethiopia, the faithful who thronged St. Peter's Square on...
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