Status: 04/09/2023 09:13 a.m
St. Peter’s Square decorated with flowers from the Netherlands, tens of thousands of believers waiting for the blessing “Urbi et Orbi”: In Rome, the Easter celebrations with Pope Francis begin in the morning.
Believers worldwide celebrate Easter today, the oldest and most important festival in Christianity. It commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead after his suffering and death on the cross.
The highlight of the celebrations in Rome is the Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square with Pope Francis. Following this, the head of the 1.3 billion Catholics worldwide announces his traditional Easter message and bestows the blessing “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the city and the world”).
Tens of thousands of believers are again expected to attend the celebration – according to the Vatican gendarmerie, around 60,000 people took part in the Palm Sunday mass last weekend.
The Holy See announced that on the occasion of the Easter holidays and “to express joy at the resurrection of Jesus Christ”, it would decorate the forecourt of St. Peter’s Basilica with around 35,000 flowers and plants from the Netherlands and transform it into a “flower garden”.
Pope Francis – here a photo from last Wednesday at his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square in Rome – today bestows the blessing “Urbi et Orbi”.
Image: via REUTERS
Traditional evening prayer celebrated
Francis had celebrated the traditional evening prayer before Easter yesterday together with around 8000 believers in St. Peter’s Basilica. In his sermon, the head of the Catholic Church castigated the “rampant injustice” and the “icy winds of war” that he says are raging in the world.
However, Easter encourages people and gives them hope. “It motivates us to move forward, to leave behind the feeling of defeat, and to face the future with confidence because Christ has risen and changed the course of history,” Francis said.
On the Holy Night before Easter Sunday, Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his death on the cross. Pope Francis, who skipped the traditional Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum on Friday night due to unusually cold weather, resumed his usual Holy Week duties at the so-called Vigil on the Easter Vigil.
Pope Francis baptized eight adults during Easter Vigil Mass. Among them were Albanians, Americans, Nigerians, Venezuelans and Italians.