Vatican City — Pope Leo celebrated his first Easter Mass as pontiff, urging the faithful to cling to hope amid a world marked by violence and suffering.
The US-born pope made his appeal as conflicts continue to spread globally, including what the Vatican described as a US-Israeli war on Iran in its second month and Russia’s ongoing campaign in Ukraine. In his homily he again called for an end to hostilities and singled out those who wage war, exploit the vulnerable or put profit ahead of people.
Speaking from an open-air altar in St. Peter’s Square, decorated with white roses and spring perennials on the steps below, he asked worshippers to keep hope even in the face of death and suffering that shows itself in injustices, partisan selfishness, the oppression of the poor and a lack of care for the most vulnerable.
He said such suffering is visible in violence and the wounds of the world, in the cries that rise from every corner because of abuses that crush the weakest, in the idolatry of profit that plunders the earth, and in the violence of war that kills and destroys.
Echoing his predecessor, Pope Francis, Leo warned against growing indifferent to persistent injustice, cruelty and evil, and offered the reminder that even in darkness something new can spring to life and eventually bear fruit.
He is due to give the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing to the city and the world.
Easter observances in the Holy Land were subdued. Services at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, venerated as the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, were scaled back under an agreement with Israeli police, who have restricted the size of public gatherings amid ongoing missile attacks. Those limits also affected Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr events and this week’s Passover celebrations; the Jewish priestly blessing at the Western Wall, usually attended by tens of thousands, was limited to roughly 50 people on Sunday.
Tensions between Israeli authorities and Christian leaders have risen: police last week barred two of the church’s top clerics, including Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, from celebrating Palm Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
On Tuesday, the pope had expressed the hope that the fighting could end before Easter.
