Vatican City: Pope Leo celebrated his first Easter Mass as pontiff with a call on Sunday to exercise hope against “the violence of war that kills and destroys”,’ saying “we need this song of hope today” as conflicts spread around the world.
With the US-Israeli war on Iran in its second month and Russia’s ongoing campaign in Ukraine, Leo has repeatedly called for a halt in hostilities. In his Easter homily, the Pope singled out those who wage war, abuse the weak and prioritise profits.
Leo, the first US-born pope, addressed the faithful from an open-air altar in St Peter’s Square flanked with white roses, while the steps leading down to the piazza where the faithful gathered were filled with spring perennials, symbolically resonating with the Pope’s message of hope.
The pontiff implored the faithful to keep their hope in the face of death, which lurks “in injustices, in partisan selfishness, in the oppression of the poor, in the lack of attention given to the most vulnerable”.
“We see it in violence, in the wounds of the world, in the cry of pain that rises from every corner because of the abuses that crush the weakest among us, because of the idolatry of profit that plunders the earth’s resources, because of the violence of war that kills and destroys,” he said.
He quoted his predecessor Pope Francis in warning against falling into indifference in the face of “persistent injustice, evil, indifference and cruelty”, because “it is also true that in the midst of darkness, something new always springs to life and sooner or later produces fruit”.
