In Easter message, Pope Francis urges prayers for Ukrainians, Russians and refugees

VATICAN CITY —  In an Easter message highlighting hope, Pope Francis on Sunday invoked prayers for the Ukrainian and Russian people, praised nations that welcome refugees and called on Israelis and Palestinians wracked by the latest surge in violence to forge a “climate of trust.”

Francis, along with dozens of prelates and tens of thousands of faithful, marked Christianity’s most joyful day with Mass in a flower-adorned St. Peter’s Square.

The 86-year-old pontiff topped the celebration with a traditional speech about troubled places in the world. Encouraging “trust among individuals, peoples and nations,” Francis said the joyful expression of Easter “illumines the darkness and gloom in which, all too often, our world finds itself enveloped.”

The pope’s Easter message is known by its Latin name, “Urbi et Orbi,” which means “to the city and the world.”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Francis has repeatedly called for the fighting to end and has sought prayers for the “martyred” Ukrainian people.

Ukrainian diplomats have complained that the pontiff hasn’t come down hard enough in his statements on Russian President Vladimir Putin, as the Vatican tries to avoid alienating Russia.

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“Help the beloved Ukrainian people on their journey toward peace, and shed the light of Easter upon the people of Russia,” Francis implored 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 who have lost loved ones because of the war, and grant that prisoners may return safe and sound to their families.”

He urged the international community to work to end the war in Ukraine and “all conflict and bloodshed in the world, beginning with Syria, which still awaits peace.”

Francis also prayed for those who lost loved ones in the earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey two months ago, claiming tens of thousands of lives.

With a renewal in deadly violence affecting Israelis and Palestinians in recent days, Francis called for a “resumption of dialogue, in a climate of trust and reciprocal respect, between Israelis and Palestinians, so that peace may reign in the Holy City and in the entire region.”

Francis noted progress on some fronts.

“Let us rejoice at the concrete signs of hope that reach us from so many countries, beginning with those that offer assistance and welcome to all fleeing war and poverty,” he said.

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, in the United States and elsewhere.

The bloody conflicts cited by Francis contrasted with a riot of bright colors lent by orange-red tulips, yellow sprays of forsythia and daffodils, hyacinths and other colorful seasonal flowers that decorated St. Peter’s Square. The blooms were trucked in from the Netherlands and set up in planters to decorate the Vatican square.

Some 45,000 people had gathered by the start of the mid-morning Mass, according to Vatican security services, but the crowd swelled to some 100,000 ahead of the noon appointment for the pontiff’s speech from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica overlooking the square.

A canopy on the edge of steps on the square sheltered the pontiff, who was back in the public eye 12 hours after an Easter vigil ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Still recovering from bronchitis, Francis, 86, skipped the traditional Good Friday procession at Rome’s Colosseum due to unseasonably cold nighttime temperatures.

Francis has generally rebounded from a three-day stay last week at a Rome hospital where he was administered antibiotics for his lung infection. He was discharged on April 1.

But near the end of the more than two-hour Easter Sunday appearance, Francis’ stamina seemed to falter. His voice grew hoarse and he interrupted his speech at one point to cough.