Pope Francis, back from the hospital, thanks crowds for their prayers on Sunday

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis, who was discharged from a three-day hospital stay on Saturday, seemed on the mend on Sunday as he addressed tens of thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square for Palm Sunday Mass, allaying concerns about his health.

Francis, 86, arrived at the crowded square in an open-topped jeep, which drove along a corridor lined with thousands of faithful, many waving palm fronds over their heads, and up a ramp to the top of the basilica’s steps. He walked to the altar unassisted – because of knee problems and recurrent sciatica, he often uses a cane or a wheelchair.

Francis delivered the homily – in which he urged the world to care for those who are “abandoned” – the Angelus prayer and a blessing to the estimated 60,000 people in the crowd. And he thanked attendees for their “participation, and also for your prayers, which intensified during these past days.”

In off-the-cuff comments during his homily, the pope lamented the recent death, under the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square, of a homeless German man. God, he said, wanted people to be there for one another. “I, too, need Jesus to caress me, come close to me,” Francis said. “And for this reason, I go to find him in those who are abandoned and alone.”

The appearance by Francis on Sunday was the first in a week of major ceremonies before Easter.

On Wednesday after his weekly audience, Francis was admitted to a hospital, Policlinico A. Gemelli, where he underwent a battery of tests and was subsequently treated over three days for bronchitis, the Vatican said. Speaking briefly to reporters after being discharged on Saturday, Francis said he had felt “unwell” after the audience, without giving details.

On Sunday, Francis remained seated under a canopy while Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, the vice deacon of the College of Cardinals, celebrated at the altar.

Holy Week involves a heavy schedule of appointments for the pontiff, including a Holy Thursday liturgy in Rome’s juvenile prison of Casal del Marmo, a Good Friday procession at the Colosseum, an Easter Vigil the following evening and an Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.