Passion Sunday is the sixth and last Sunday of Lent and the Sunday before Easter.

This is the Sunday on which palms are distributed to the congregation in most Christian churches and, because of the distribution of palm branches, it has long been called Palm Sunday.  In the past, the fifth Sunday of Lent (the Sunday before Palm Sunday) was known as Passion Sunday in the Catholic Church.  However, following Vatican II, the sixth Sunday of Lent was officially re-named Passion Sunday.  Palm branches are still distributed but the focus is on the betrayal, arrest, suffering and crucification of Jesus rather than on his triumphal entry into Jerusalem just before his death. Passion/Palm Sunday is the start of Holy Week in which the Church commemorates the Last Supper and the first Eucharist on Holy Thursday and Christ's death on Good Friday.

Catholic Churches now refer to the sixth Sunday in Lent as Passion Sunday and focus on the passion of Christ in their liturgies for that Sunday.  However, customs and traditions die hard and many lay people continue to think of and refer to the sixth Sunday of Lent as Palm Sunday.  While the changes to the liturgy and the re-focusing on Christ's suffering and death have been well received by the members of most congregations, the name change to Passion Sunday has not really taken root among them.