Pope Francis celebrates Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square for the first time since the pandemic.
Francis made an anguished plea for peace in the “senseless” war in Ukraine and in other armed conflicts raging in the world, and cited the “troubling” risk of nuclear warfare.
“May there be peace for war-torn Ukraine, so sorely tried by the violence and destruction of this cruel and senseless war into which it was dragged,” Francis said, speaking from the central balcony of St Peter’s Square. The pontiff, 85, had just finished celebrating Easter Mass in the square packed by faithful for the holiday for the first time since the pandemic began in early 2020.Applause erupted from many of the 50,000 people in the square and on a nearby avenue when he mentioned Ukraine“Please, please, let us not get used to war,” Francis pleaded, after denouncing “the flexing of muscles while people are suffering”.
The pontiff, who has a knee ligament problem, limped badly as he stepped out from the back of St. Peter’s Basilica to reach an altar set up on the steps outside, shaded by a canopy against brilliant sunshine. Right after the end of Mass, Francis got aboard the white popemobile for a whirl through the square to greet cheering well-wishers among the rank-and-file faithful.
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