Pope Francis made renewed calls on Easter Sunday for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all Israeli hostages in a peace-focused address marking the most important day on the Christian calendar.
Francis presided over Mass in a packed St Peter’s Square, and then delivered his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing and message from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica.
Francis (87) has been in poor health in recent weeks, forcing him on repeated occasions to limit his public speaking and cancel engagements as he did on Good Friday, skipping at short notice a procession at Rome’s Colosseum.
However, he took part in other Holy Week events leading up to Easter, and appeared in relatively good spirits at Sunday’s Mass. Easter celebrates the day in which the faithful believe Jesus rose from the dead.
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After the service, the pontiff took to his open-topped popemobile to tour the square and the avenue connecting the Vatican to the river Tiber and greet the tens of thousands of people who had lined up to see him.
Francis has repeatedly deplored the death and destruction in the Gaza war.
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“I appeal once again that access to humanitarian aid be ensured to Gaza, and call once more for the prompt release of the hostages seized on last October 7th and for an immediate ceasefire in the Strip,” he said on Sunday.
“How much suffering we see in the eyes of children, the children have forgotten to smile in those war zones. With their eyes, children ask us: Why? Why all this death? Why all this destruction? War is always an absurdity and a defeat”, he said.
On Saturday, the pope soldiered through a more than 2-hour Easter Vigil Mass in St Peter’s Basilica, one of the longest services in Catholic liturgy.,
His voice at times sounded raspy and out of breath, but he read out all of his prepared texts, including a more than one-page long homily, and he smiled and waved at the congregation as he left in a wheelchair.
In other occasions, Francis has delegated longer readings to aides.
The pope is also restricted in his mobility due to a knee ailment, and regularly uses a wheelchair or a cane.
Francis looked in better shape on Thursday as he performed a foot-washing ceremony in a women's prison, recalling Jesus' gesture of humility to his apostles at the Last Supper, and at a Good Friday service in St Peter's.
Holy Week consists of several solemn ceremonies leading to Easter on Sunday, the most important festivity in the Christian calendar, celebrating the day in which the faithful believe Jesus rose from the dead.
Saturday's evening service, held in Christendom's largest church, started in near total darkness before lights were turned on, signifying the passage from darkness to light when the Bible says Jesus rose from the dead.
It was attended by about 6,000 people, the Vatican said.
In his homily on Saturday, recalling that the stone sealing Jesus’ tomb was rolled back as he was resurrected, Francis urged Christians to keep their faith even when weighed down by sorrow, fear or other adversities.
He mentioned, among other things, “the rubber walls of selfishness and indifference that hold us back in the effort to build more just and humane cities and societies,” as well as “all our aspirations for peace that are shattered by cruel hatred and the brutality of war”.
– Reuters