Some 45,000 people had gathered by the start of the mid-morning Mass.
VATICAN CITY — In an Easter message highlighting hope, Pope Francis on Sunday invoked prayers for both the Ukrainian and Russian people, praised nations which welcome refugees, and called on wracked by the latest surge in deadly violence to forge a “climate of trust.”
The pope’s Easter message is known by its Latin name, “Urbi et Orbi,” which means “to the city and the world.”Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine “Help the beloved Ukrainian people on their journey towards peace, and shed the light of Easter upon the people of Russia,’’ Francis implored God in his Easter speech, which he delivered while sitting in a chair on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica facing the square. “Comfort the wounded and all those because of the war, and grant that prisoners may return safe and sound to their families.
How to care for asylum-seekers, migrants and refugees, and whether to allow them entrance, is a raging political and social debate in much of Europe, as well in the United States and elsewhere. A canopy on the edge of steps on the square sheltered the pontiff, who was back in the public eye 12 hours after a 2.25-hour long Easter vigil ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica the night before.
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