Author: Eric Deabill

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis and his international Council of Cardinals met in-person at the Vatican April 25, discussing the war in Ukraine, the Vatican press office said.

There was a discussion about the conflict and its impact on the church, ecumenism and the sociopolitical sphere, the Vatican said April 28.

The cardinals reflected on the situation and supported the different initiatives that have been launched by Pope Francis and the Vatican’s secretary and secretariat of state, aimed at finding a peaceful solution, according to the Vatican press office.

Each cardinal then presented a rundown of the different situations on their own continent, touching on such issues as peace, health care, poverty, tenuous political situations and pastoral problems in the local churches, it said.

Six of the seven members of the council participated: Cardinals Seán P. O’Malley of Boston; Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, India; Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, Germany; Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Kinshasa, and Giuseppe Bertello, retired president of the commission governing Vatican City State. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, was in Mexico to mark 30 years of diplomatic ties with the Vatican.

On his doctor’s orders to rest an inflamed knee, the pope was forced to cancel his scheduled appointments April 26, which included that day’s session of the Council of Cardinals.

The cardinals spent the day discussing climate change and the upcoming COP27 meeting in Egypt in November. They reflected on what the church could be doing to draw attention to the urgency of the problem. Cardinal Ambongo gave a broader look at the global situation and what expectations came out of the COP26 meeting in Glasgow, particularly in helping poorer nations in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Oceania.

The cardinals also continued an in-depth discussion begun in February on women in the church. The April meeting included a presentation by Sister Laura Vicuña Pereira Manso, a member of the Congregation of Franciscan Catechists and the Kariri Indigenous community from the Amazon region in Brazil.

The final day, April 27, the cardinals continued a reflection on the Vatican’s diplomatic service and the role of the apostolic nuncios. Cardinal Gracias presented a report on the subject, followed by an open discussion.

They ended the session discussing the implementation of the “Praedicate Evangelium” (“Preach the Gospel”), the papal constitution reforming the Roman Curia, a project Pope Francis began with the Council of Cardinals shortly after taking office in 2013. Published by the Vatican March 19, it will go into effect June 5, the feast of Pentecost.

The cardinals discussed possible ways to implement the new legislation and evaluate next steps and potential challenges.

The council is scheduled to meet again in June.

WASHINGTON (CNS) – A monumental work of art depicting migrants and refugees seeking a home has found its own permanent home at a new plaza at The Catholic University of America.

During an April 22 blessing and dedication ceremony, Washington Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory blessed Timothy Schmalz’s “Angels Unawares” sculpture and philanthropist and arts patron Jacqueline Mars pushed a button that initiated water flowing around the base of the sculpture to form a reflecting pool.

The sculpture depicts 140 diverse migrants and refugees from different countries and historical eras huddled together on a boat as if seeking a safe harbor, with the flowing water in the reflecting pool seeming to represent the tides carrying the boat’s occupants toward a new life.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” said Mars, who made a gift of $1.25 million for the plaza. In a ceremony before the blessing, she said, “I believe that this statue so personifies exactly what we should be doing, welcoming the stranger.”

The co-owner of Mars, the world’s largest candy company, said the sculpture reflected how the United States was founded by immigrants, and she also said it was very meaningful to her that the refugees in the artwork included the Holy Family, shown on their flight into Egypt with Joseph holding carpentry tools and Mary cradling the baby Jesus in her arms.

Noting the sculpture and plaza’s location, surrounded by the Catholic University campus and with the nearby Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception forming a majestic backdrop, Mars said: “I chose to support Welcome Plaza because I felt this location was a place where the statue could speak to a variety of people: young and old, from this country and elsewhere.”

“To experience ‘Angels Unawares’ in person is an important lesson for all of us,” she said.

The 20-foot-long, 3.5-ton bronze sculpture is the second casting of that artwork by Schmalz, with the originally commissioned by the Vatican and placed in St. Peter’s Square, where it was unveiled by Pope Francis in September 2019 for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

One year later, the second sculpture was blessed by then-Archbishop Gregory at Catholic University, before it traveled on a 9,700-mile tour across the country.

“Nineteen months later, the sculpture has finally arrived in port, and we have settled the matter of where to dock it,” said Catholic University president John Garvey at the dedication ceremony.

A stone marker identifies Welcome Plaza and the “Angels Unawares” sculpture and includes the biblical quote from Hebrews 13:2 that inspired the work: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

To reinforce that spiritual message of welcoming newcomers, large angel wings stretch skyward in the middle of the figures standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the boat.

In his opening prayer at the gathering, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio to the United States, noted that these are “dramatic days, when so many of our brothers and sisters are forced from their homes” by war and domestic strife.

“Most of all, oh Lord, we ask you to send your holy angels to comfort the migrants and refugees, the marginalized and the despondent and those who care for them,” he prayed.

The artist also addressed the guests and said viewing the sculpture brought him a flashback of the faces he used as models for the work. The Canadian artist said some, including African refugees, posed for him in his studio, while many of the historical figures were based on photos from the archives of Ellis Island.

The figures in the sculpture represent a range of ages, ethnic backgrounds and emotions. Most look forward, and some look back.

The figures in the front of the sculpture include a Muslim woman fleeing Syria, a Jewish man holding suitcases while escaping Nazi Germany, a pregnant woman from Poland and an Irish boy leaving home during the potato famine. In the back is the figure of a Cherokee man with his hand clutching his face in sorrow as he is forced from his tribe’s lands during the “Trail of Tears.”

“I hope when people look at it, they will see themselves within it,” said Schmalz.

The interfaith ceremony also included remarks by an Episcopal priest, a Muslim imam and a Jewish rabbi, who all spoke of how welcoming strangers is a central tenet to their faiths.

In an interview, the artist said that the “Angels Unawares” in this setting celebrates the story of immigrants in America. And he noted that with this casting of the sculpture, the figures in the boat are able to be surrounded by water, which couldn’t be done in St. Peter’s Square.

Mars said she “felt strongly about the water element and that the statue should be floating as on a boat. When you think of all the immigrants and the images we see of many of them crossing at sea to escape, it just seemed appropriate to have that water element in the plaza, too.”

“I truly hope ‘Angels Unawares’ will move people to a generosity of spirit toward immigrants,” she said.

WASHINGTON (CNS) – A federal judge at an April 25 hearing said he would grant the requests of three states to force the federal government to keep in place a public-health order at the U.S.-Mexico border that has increased the number of expulsions of immigrants trying to cross into the United States.

The public-health order, known as Title 42, allows the United States to bar entry of persons who have recently been in a country where a communicable disease was present. It was applied by the Trump administration in March 2020, soon after the coronavirus pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization.

U.S. District Judge Robert R. Summerhays of the Western District of Louisiana, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, said he would sign an order to keep the policy in place, and to order the federal government to certify that it is not acting ahead of its announced May 23 date to drop the Title 42 provision.

The Biden administration has come under fire from both Republicans and Democrats for planning to end the policy. The Centers for Disease Control and Protection announced in April that the restriction could be dropped in late May.

Catholic groups that support immigrants have long been calling for an end to this restriction.

Since Title 42 was applied at the border, 1.61 million people have been expelled by the United States through January, the latest month for which statistics are available. The vast majority, 1.56 million, were expelled by the U.S. Border Patrol, while 52,735 were expelled by the Office of Field Operations.

Immigration advocates criticized the policy when it was first enacted by Trump, and have pressed the Biden administration to drop it.

Some elected officials have predicted an overwhelming surge in immigration should Title 42 be lifted, predicting 12,000 to 13,000 border crossings daily. The Biden administration said it is planning for 18,000 daily crossings effective May 23.

Summerhays has not yet ruled on another request in the suit to force the Biden administration to keep Title 42 in place. The United States has made exceptions to the policy, particularly in the case of well-founded fears of violence and death if not admitted into the country.

The suit was brought by the states of Arizona, Louisiana and Missouri, the latter two of which have no land border crossing with Mexico.

While the majority of immigrants hail from the “Northern Triangle” countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, a growing number of refugees from countries even further from Mexico — such as Cuba, Brazil and India — have shown up at the border. Mexico has been loath to accept them after they were expelled by the United States.

In recent weeks, Ukrainians fleeing their homeland after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine have also been seeking entry into the United States from Mexico.

SCRANTON – Family, friends and former parishioners of the Most Reverend John M. Dougherty joined clergy from the Diocese of Scranton in praying for the eternal repose of the soul of the late Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of Scranton on April 25, 2022.

More than 150 people participated in Solemn Vespers at the Cathedral of Saint Peter as the first day of visitation for Bishop Dougherty concluded.

“It seems like this son of God was given to us, like many others who have gone through this world, to remind us we were made not for this world,” Rev. Christopher S. Sahd said during homily.

Father Sahd stressed that Jesus lived in Bishop Dougherty – and as a priest of 65 years – the late bishop knew that to be baptized in Christ also meant to suffer with him.

“He so sought the life of Jesus, the fullness of His power, the holiness of His mysteries, and the perfection of His ways and not ours,” Father Sahd explained.

Bishop Dougherty died on April 16 at his family’s home in Scranton. He was 89.

“Let us not fail to pray for him now, so that God, having mercy on his soul, may bring him to the promise he so longed for, so adored in the sacred mysteries,” Father Sahd added. “Bishop Dougherty would be the first to abhor the thought that we would come to this point and not pray for his soul but we also have to thank God for the way that Jesus lived in him.”

Bishop Dougherty was ordained to the priesthood in 1957. His episcopal ordination as Auxiliary Bishop followed in 1995. He is remembered by many for his deep spirituality, pastoral concern and consistent presence in hospitals ministering to the sick and dying.

Father Sahd emphasized that on a nightly basis, Bishop Dougherty would encourage people not only to ask God’s mercy but to thank God for everything that is beautiful and good.

“As we come to the end of this day, we keep vigil tonight,” Father Sahd said. “Every one of us have been a part of a beautiful day of Jesus Christ in the life of God the Father’s beloved son.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis and the Vatican are urging world leaders to listen to the people’s cry for peace, and they have backed an appeal by the head of the United Nations for an Easter truce in Ukraine.

Pope Francis first called for an Easter truce during his Angelus address at the Vatican April 10.

“Let the weapons be put down,” he said on Palm Sunday. “Let the Easter truce begin. But not to provide more weapons and pick up the combat again — no! — a truce that will lead to peace, through real negotiation that is even disposed to some sacrifice for the good of the people. In fact, what victory is there in planting a flag on a pile of rubble?”

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres echoed the appeal of the pope and other European Catholic and Protestant leaders for an Easter cease-fire.

Speaking to reporters April 20 at the U.N. headquarters in New York, Guterres asked there be a four-day “humanitarian pause” from April 21 to April 24, which is Holy Week and Easter on the Julian calendar, used by most Christians in Ukraine and Russia.

The cease-fire would allow for a series of humanitarian corridors to open, done in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross. It would offer safe passage of civilians wanting to leave and the safe delivery of aid to people in the hardest-hit areas such as Mariupol, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk, he said.

“The United Nations is ready to send humanitarian aid convoys during this period to these locations,” he said. “We are submitting detailed plans to the parties.”

In a written communique April 21, the Vatican said, “The Holy See and the Holy Father join with the appeal by António Guterres,” and in agreement with Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, major archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

“Aware that nothing is impossible for God, they call on the Lord asking that the population trapped in war zones be evacuated and peace be restored quickly,” the Vatican communique said.

The pope and the Holy See also ask world leaders “to listen to the people’s cry for peace.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Young people should not allow the darkness of fear to overwhelm them and instead allow the light of Easter to illuminate their lives and give them courage, Pope Francis said.

Fears “must be brought to light. And when fears, which are in darkness, come into the light, the truth bursts out. Do not be discouraged: If you are afraid, put it to the light and it will do you good!” the pope told thousands of young men and women gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

The April 18 event, titled “Seguimi” (“Follow Me”), was organized by the Italian bishops’ conference and brought young teens from all of Italy for a prayer vigil in Rome. While initial projections expected 57,000 people at the event, the Vatican said an estimated 100,000 young people were present.

It was the first large-scale gathering of its kind in St. Peter’s Square since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered all public events in the country in 2020.

After riding around and greeting the crowd on his popemobile, Pope Francis welcomed them and said the “square has long been waiting to be filled with your presence, your faces, and your enthusiasm.”

“Today, all of you are together, coming from Italy, in the embrace of this square and in the joy of the Easter that we have just celebrated,” he said.

However, the pope said that although Jesus’ resurrection “conquered the darkness of death,” there are still dense clouds “that darken our time.”

“In addition to the pandemic, Europe is experiencing a terrible war, while injustices and violence continue in many regions of the earth that destroy humankind and the planet,” he said. “Often it is your peers who pay the highest price: Not only is their existence compromised and made insecure, but their dreams for the future are trampled on. Many brothers and sisters are still waiting for the light of Easter.”

Reflecting on a Gospel reading from St. John, in which the risen Christ appears to his disciples while they were fishing on the Sea of Galilee, the pope said young people, like the disciples, can experience moments in life that “put us to the test” and “make us feel naked, helpless and alone.”

In those times of uncertainty, he continued, young people must not keep to themselves, because “fears must be said, fears must be expressed in order to be able to drive them away.”

“Darkness puts us in crisis; but the problem lies in how we manage this crisis,” the pope explained. “If I keep it only for myself, for my heart, and I don’t talk about it with anyone, it doesn’t work. In times of crisis, you have to talk, talk with the friend who can help, with your dad, your mom, your grandfather, your grandmother, with a person who can help. Crises must be illuminated to overcome them.”

He also encouraged the young men and women present to not be afraid of life and all that it entails but instead to be afraid “of the death of the soul, of the death of the future, of the closure of the heart.”

“Life is beautiful, life is meant to be lived and to give it to others; life is meant to be shared with others, not to close it in on itself,” he said.

Like children who call on their mother when in need, Pope Francis said Christians can call upon Mary who, in her adolescence, “accepted her extraordinary vocation to be the mother of Jesus.”

“May Our Lady — the mother who was almost your age when she received the angel’s announcement and became pregnant with him — teach you to say: ‘Here I am!'” the pope said.

WASHINGTON (CNS) – Family Theater Productions is marking its 75th anniversary with just one event, a dinner at a Hollywood hotel April 27, because the folks there are just too busy to do more.

Family Theater wants to start production on, among other things, an animated series based on a popular children’s book series and a holiday-themed film, said Holy Cross Father David Guffey, national director of Family Theater Productions.

The anniversary, to be celebrated at the iconic Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard, is a tribute to the “humble beginnings rooted in prayer” of Holy Cross Father Patrick Peyton, the Catholic production company’s founder, and his “faith and trust in God,” Father Guffey said in a statement ahead of the event.

“The 75th anniversary is also a tribute to the ways Hollywood and entertainment have changed,” he said, from radio production to TV and films and now social media, apps and video.

Back in 1947, when Father Peyton founded Family Theater Productions, it was a relative snap to get that era’s stars on a stage or behind a microphone. Those stars included Bob Newhart, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Loretta Young and Lucille Ball, among many others.

Now “it takes two to six years to get a film made,” Father Guffey told Catholic News Service during an April 14 phone interview from Hollywood. The process, he noted, starts with getting the script written, then comes casting and financing, plus many other things in between.

Back then “there were only a few distribution patterns, but there was a great need for this content,” Father Guffey said. “People were hungry to deal with Catholics.”

Now, there are seemingly limitless distribution networks — Father Guffey cited YouTube and Vimeo as just two. But also today, “sometimes it can be harmful to a mainstream career if you participate in a Catholic project,” he added.

In 1947, when radio was king and broadcast television was in its infancy, word got out — and fast — about something airing coast-to-coast. Today, those things “go viral,” but the audience is more diffuse.

Father Guffey said anyone with a smartphone is able to access content. “There are a lot of great things created every single day. The single biggest thing is finding our audience, letting your audience know about it,” he added, noting he had found something recently, but “I feel I’ve discovered something that’s been out for a year.”

In addition to new projects, Family Theater Productions is still finding outlets for two of last year’s projects: “The House That Rob Built,” about a women’s college basketball coach, and “Pray: The Patrick Peyton Story.”

Family Theater made a deal with UP TV to debut “Pray” over Easter weekend, and to offer it UP’s streaming service starting in June.

Other streaming deals are done “on a case-by-case basis,” Father Guffey told CNS.

With Family Theater Productions now having 75 years under its belt, there’s a five-year plan afoot.

“We have a direction that we’re headed,” Father Guffey said. “We really believe that great stories unlock the heart and open up people’s heart to the possibility of love and faith in new ways. We believe in the power of narrative, either in a document or a scripted film.”

Those would come in the form of feature films and possibly a limited television series “to bring beauty from the Catholic tradition to audiences throughout the world,” he said. “We’ll always be involved in Catholic content creation.”

That “throughout the world” phrase has its origins in 1958, when Family Theater made its first films. It was a 15-part series on the mysteries of the rosary, which was Father Peyton’s focus. The Irish-born priest, who is a candidate for sainthood, was known as the “rosary priest” for his dedication to spreading love of the rosary and family prayer.

“Our first effort to get it (the series) to the world was what we called a mission kit,” Father Guffey explained. “We sent the mission a mission kit — 15 reels, a film projector with a speaker and a screen you could put against the wall.” He added that for some of the Catholic faithful in places like Peru and Chile, it was “perhaps the first film they ever saw.”

“It’s become so much easier now, the whole world has access to YouTube” and a host of streaming platforms, he said. “We make an effort to make that popular. We’ve done this through the last 30 years. We dub into Spanish but we also have subtitles in French and Portuguese and sometimes other languages as well.”

In a throwback moment, the anniversary dinner will feature a live performance of a vintage Family Theater radio drama.

Father Guffey found a director who specializes in radio dramas, and someone to do sound effects live as they did in the old days. Starring in the reenactment will be Clarence Gilyard (“Walker, Texas Ranger”) and Michael Harney (“Orange Is the New Black”).

At the same time, Father Guffey is keeping an eye on the success of “Father Stu,” the new movie starring and produced by Mark Wahlberg.

“God bless Mark Wahlberg, a big risk to his career, and I hear he financed much of it. If it does well, there is an audience for faith-based content,” he said. “People tell me they want more of it. Then we’ll share it and see that they can make more of it.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The joy of Christ’s resurrection is needed now more than ever in a time when war in Ukraine and other parts of the world makes the hope for peace seem like an illusion, Pope Francis said before giving his Easter blessing.

Like the disciples who were at first doubtful of Jesus rising from the dead, “our eyes, too, are incredulous on this Easter of war,” the pope said as he prepared April 17 to give his Easter blessing “urbi et orbi” (“to the city and the world”).

“We have seen all too much blood, all too much violence. Our hearts, too, have been filled with fear and anguish, as so many of our brothers and sisters have had to lock themselves away in order to be safe from bombing,” he said.

Nevertheless, Christ’s victory over death “is not an illusion” and the world needs “the crucified and risen Lord so that we can believe in the victory of love, and hope for reconciliation.”

Earlier in the day, the Vatican said an estimated 55,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square in the first outdoor Easter Mass since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. A vast floral arrangement adorned the steps leading to the basilica, highlighting the festive atmosphere.

According to Vatican News, the display of flowers, imported from the Netherlands, featured more than 40,000 individual flowers, plants and trees, including tulips, daffodils, and birch trees that accented the joyful celebration of Christ’s resurrection.

Pope Francis did not deliver a homily during the Mass; instead, a hushed silence filled the packed square for several minutes of quiet, prayerful reflection.

As Mass progressed, tens of thousands more began lining the streets outside the square. The Vatican said police estimated 100,000 people had gathered for the post-Mass blessing.

Before the blessing, the pope, standing on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, addressed the crowd. However, due to knee problems that have caused him difficulty walking and standing for long periods of time, the pope sat and spoke for part of his address.

In his address, the pope said the joyous announcement of Jesus’ resurrection is sorely needed “at the end of a Lent that has seemed endless.”

“We emerged from two years of pandemic, which took a heavy toll,” the pope said. “It was time to come out of the tunnel together, hand in hand, pooling our strengths and resources.”

However, the pope said that instead of unity, the world has shown that “we still have within us the spirit of Cain, who saw Abel not as a brother, but as a rival, and thought about how to eliminate him.”

Only Christ, he added, who bears the wounds inflicted “upon him by our sins, by our hardness of heart, by our fratricidal hatred” has the right “to speak to us of peace.”

“The wounds on the body of the risen Jesus are the sign of the battle he fought and won for us, won with the weapons of love, so that we might have peace and remain in peace,” the pope said.

Continuing his address, Pope Francis prayed for peace in Ukraine and for its people who have been “sorely tried” by the “cruel and senseless war into which it was dragged,” and he urged world leaders to listen to the “people’s plea for peace.”

“May there be an end to the flexing of muscles while people are suffering,” the pope said. “Please, let us not get used to war! Let us all commit ourselves to imploring peace, from our balconies and in our streets!”

The pope also prayed for the countless Ukrainian refugees forced to flee the horrors of war, especially children who were left orphaned.

“As we look at them, we cannot help but hear their cry of pain, along with that of all those other children who suffer throughout our world: those dying of hunger or lack of medical care, those who are victims of abuse and violence, and those denied the right to be born,” he prayed.

Pope Francis also prayed that the war in Ukraine may make the world more aware of the suffering caused by war in other parts of the world, especially in the Middle East, which has been “racked by years of conflict and division.”

The pope prayed for peace in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, as well as the Holy Land.

“May Israelis, Palestinians and all who dwell in the holy city, together with the pilgrims, experience the beauty of peace, dwell in fraternity and enjoy free access to the holy places in mutual respect for the rights of each,” he said.

He also called for peace in Myanmar, Afghanistan, Libya and Yemen, a country he said “suffers from a conflict forgotten by all, with continuous victims.”

The pope prayed that Jesus would bring peace to the African continent “so that the exploitation it suffers and the hemorrhaging caused by terrorist attacks — particularly in the Sahel region — may cease, and that it may find concrete support in the fraternity of the peoples.”

He also prayed that Ethiopia may continue on the path of reconciliation and dialogue and for an end to violence in Congo. The pope also expressed solidarity for the people of South Africa who have suffered due to devastating floods in the eastern part of the country.

Turning his attention toward Latin America, Pope Francis prayed for its people “who have seen their social conditions worsen in these difficult times of pandemic, exacerbated as well by instances of crime, violence, corruption and drug trafficking.”

He also prayed the Indigenous people of Canada, whom he met earlier in the month to apologize for the church’s role in running residential schools, where many children suffered abuse.

“Let us ask the risen Lord to accompany the journey of reconciliation that the Catholic Church in Canada is making with the Indigenous peoples. May the spirit of the risen Christ heal the wounds of the past and dispose hearts to seek truth and fraternity,” he said.

Standing up from his seat before delivering his blessing, Pope Francis said that while the world suffers the consequences of war, the resurrected Christ who conquered death “exhorts us not to surrender to evil and violence.”

“May we be won over by the peace of Christ! Peace is possible; peace is a duty; peace is everyone’s primary responsibility!” the pope said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The joy of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead gives joy and strength to those who are called to bring peace, reconciliation and justice to the suffering and the downtrodden, Pope Francis said.

“Let us make Jesus, the Living One, rise again from all those tombs in which we have sealed him,” the pope said in his homily April 16 during the Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica.

“Let us bring him into our everyday lives: through gestures of peace in these days marked by the horrors of war, through acts of reconciliation amid broken relationships, acts of compassion toward those in need, acts of justice amid situations of inequality and of truth in the midst of lies. And above all, through works of love and fraternity,” he said.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, was the main celebrant at the Mass, and Pope Francis delivered his homily from a chair in front of the altar. While the Vatican gave no explanation why Pope Francis did not preside, he has had difficulty walking recently, and he recently told journalists he had a knee problem.

However, Pope Francis baptized and confirmed seven adults who were entering the Catholic Church. The five men and two women included an American man identified as Taylor Pescante, as well as four Italians, an Albanian and a Cuban.

At the end of his homily, Pope Francis directly addressed Ivan Federov, the elected mayor of the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, Ukraine. Federov, who was captured and later released by the Russians in a prisoner exchange, was in Rome and met earlier in the day with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.

Looking at Federov, the pope said the darkness of night also symbolizes “the darkness of war, of cruelty.”

“We are all praying. We are praying for you and with you, we are praying for so much suffering,” the pope said in Italian. “We can only give you our accompaniment, our prayer and tell you, ‘Courage,’ and accompany you. And to also tell you the greatest thing that we celebrate today,” he said, switching to Ukrainian: “Christ is risen.”

According to the Vatican press office, before the vigil, the pope also met briefly with Federov as well as with representatives of “the local government and the parliament of the country.”

The vigil, the first open to the public in three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, began in the atrium of St. Peter’s Basilica, with the blessing of the fire and lighting of the Easter candle. A deacon carried the candle into the semi-darkened basilica, lit Cardinal Re’s candle and began sharing the light with the thousands of people in the congregation.

Symbolizing Christ’s resurrection dispelling the darkness of death, little by little the basilica was filled with the light of the candles held by the estimated 5,500 people present. Seated in a white chair, the pope sat silently, holding a small lit candle.

In his homily, he reflected on the Gospel scene of the women going to Jesus’ tomb and what “they saw, they heard and they proclaimed.”

The women, he said, expected to find Jesus laid in his tomb and ready to be anointed. The empty tomb, however, not only subverts expectations but also “comes with the gift of a hope that surprises and amazes us,” though “it is not easy to welcome.”

“At times — we must admit — this hope does not find a place in our hearts. Like the women in the Gospel, we are overtaken by questions and doubts, and our first reaction before the unexpected sign is one of fear,” the pope explained.

People today, he continued, often “look at life and reality with downcast eyes” and “halt before the tomb of resignation and fatalism.” Nevertheless, Pope Francis said Jesus’ resurrection allows for all men and women to look at life through “different eyes” so that “we can make the leap from nothingness to life.”

“True, death can fill us with dread; it can paralyze us,” the pope said. “But the Lord is risen! Let us lift up our gaze, remove the veil of sadness and sorrow from our eyes, and open our hearts to the hope that God brings!”

Reflecting on the angel telling the women that Jesus was not there at the tomb, the pope said the angel’s words, “He is not here,” should be repeated often, especially when “we think we have understood everything there is to know about God” and “pigeonhole him in our own ideas and categories.”

Christians also should repeat the angel’s question to the women about why they sought the living among the dead, because it serves as a reminder that “we cannot celebrate Easter if we continue to be dead; if we remain prisoners of the past.”

Easter cannot be celebrated, he added, if “we reduce faith to a talisman, making God a lovely memory from times past, instead of encountering him today as the living God who desires to change us and to change our world.”

“A Christianity that seeks the Lord among the ruins of the past and encloses him in the tomb of habit is a Christianity without Easter,” he said.

The women proclaimed the joy of the resurrection not just “to console those who mourned the death of Jesus” but to “open hearts to the extraordinary message of God’s triumph over evil and death.”

The pope said that although they expected the disciples to “think they were mad,” the women “were not concerned for their reputation, for preserving their image; they did not contain their emotions or measure their words.”

“How beautiful is a church that can run this way through the streets of our world! Without fear, without schemes and stratagems, but solely with the desire to lead everyone to the joy of the Gospel,” Pope Francis said.

“That is what we are called to do: to experience the risen Christ and to share the experience with others; to roll away the stone from the tomb where we may have enclosed the Lord, in order to spread his joy in the world,” he said.