During Easter vigil, Pope Francis encourages hope amid ‘cold wind of war’

Pope Francis led the world’s Roman Catholics into Easter during a Saturday night vigil Mass in St Peter’s Basilica, condemning the “cold winds of war” and the other injustice.

Francis, 86, skipped an outdoor event on Friday night because of the unusually cold temperatures in Rome. His doctors ordered caution after he hospitalized last week for bronchitis.

Francis appeared to be doing well during the Easter Vigil in which he baptized eight adult converts to Catholicism.

After starting the ceremony at the back of the church with the traditional light of a large Easter candle, he was wheeled to the front to preside over Mass.

Easter is the most important day in the Christian liturgical calendar because it celebrates the day when the Bible says that Jesus rose from the dead.

In his homily, read before about 8,000 people at Christendom’s largest church, Francis spoke of the bitterness, dismay and disillusionment many feel today.

“We can feel helpless and discouraged in the face of the forces of evil, the conflicts that tear our relationships, the calculating and indifferent attitude that seems to prevail in our society, the disease of corruption, the spread of injustice, the icy wind of war.” he say.

Pope Francis has called for an end to all wars and since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, he has repeatedly called Ukraine and its people “martyrs”.

Reading his homily in a strong and confident voice, Francis said that even when one feels hope is exhausted, it is important not to freeze in a sense of failure but to seek “inner resurrection” with the help of the Lord.

Pope Francis concluded the Sunday celebrations of Holy Week by presiding over Easter Mass in St Peter’s Square and then giving the blessing and the message “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and to the world) twice a day. years from the central balcony outside of St. Saint Peter’s Basilica.