Pope Urges Using ‘Weapons Of Love’ To Combat Evil In Easter Message
“May he (the risen Jesus) draw us closer on this Easter feast to the victims of terrorism.”
Osservatore Romano / Reuters
Pope Francis delivers the Urbi et Orbi benediction at the
end of the Easter Mass in Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Sunday.
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Pope Francis urged the world in his
Easter message on Sunday to use the “weapons of love” to combat the evil of
“blind and brutal violence”, following the attacks in Brussels.
After a week of somber religious
events commemorating Jesus’ death, Francis said an Easter Sunday Mass under
tight security for tens of thousands of people in a sun-drenched St. Peter’s
Square.
Afterwards, in his traditional,
twice-yearly “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message, he spoke of
violence, injustice and threats to peace in many parts of the world.
“May he (the risen Jesus) draw us
closer on this Easter feast to the victims of terrorism, that blind and brutal
form of violence which continues to shed blood in different parts of the
world,” he said, speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Osservatore
Romano / Reuters Tens of thousands of people turned out to hear the pontiff’s
twice-yearly “Urbi et Orbi” message in a sun-drenched St. Peter’s Square.
He mentioned recent attacks in
Belgium, where at least 31 people were killed by Islamist militants, as well as
those in Turkey, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, and Iraq.
“With the weapons of love, God has
defeated selfishness and death,” the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman
Catholic said from the same balcony from where he first appeared to the world
on the night of his election on March 13, 2013.
The 79-year-old Argentine pontiff
urged people to channel the hope of Easter in order to defeat “the evil that
seems to have the upper hand in the life of so many people”.
The pope condemned the Brussels
attacks several times during the past week, including at a Good Friday service
where he said followers of religions who carried out acts of fundamentalism or
terrorism were profaning God’s name..
The former king and queen of
Belgium, Albert II and Paola, who is Italian, attended the Mass and the pope
greeted them afterwards.
Alessandro
Bianchi / Reuters The 79-year-old Argentine pontiff also met
with Belgium’s former King Albert II (R) and Queen Paola at the end of the
Easter mass.
In other parts of his address,
Francis expressed the hope that recent talks could resolve the conflict in
Syria in order to end the “sad wake of destruction, death, contempt for
humanitarian law and the breakdown of civil concord”.
He urged Europe “not to forget
those men and women seeking a better future, an ever more numerous throng of
migrants and refugees – including many children – fleeing from war, hunger,
poverty and social injustice.”
The European Union and Turkey have
agreed to stop the flow of migrants to Europe in return for political and
financial concessions for Ankara. Turkey and The Aegean islands have been the
main route for migrants and refugees pouring into Europe in the past year.
Alessandro
Bianchi / Reuters Pope Francis is seen arriving to lead Easter Mass
which was held under tight security.
Francis called for dialogue between
Israelis and Palestinians, and resolutions to conflicts and political tensions
in Yemen, Iraq, Libya, Burundi, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, South Sudan, and Ukraine.
Security was very tight around the
square, which was bedecked with more than 35,000 flowers and plants donated by
the Netherlands.
Police checked people several times
at various points along the approach the square and subjected those with entry
tickets to body and bag searches even before they passed through metal detectors.
Security sources said police reinforcements had arrived in Rome from other
Italian cities.
Islamic State militants have made
threats against Catholic targets in Rome. Last year, a website used by
militants ran a photo montage showing the movement’s black flag flying from the
obelisk at the center of St Peter’s Square.
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