Pope Francis at Easter Sunday Mass with 30,000 People "May we be reborn in the light of life, renewed by your Spirit" and 35,000 Donated Flowers - VIDEO

Pope Francis presided, with over 350 concelebrants (34 cardinals, 18 bishops and 300 priests), the Easter Mass in the outdoor churchyard of the Vatican basilica decorated with 35,000 multicolored flowers, the result of the generous donation of Dutch florists with the collaboration of the workers of the Garden Service and Environment. At the liturgy, which began with the Resurrexit rite, over thirty thousand faithful - and gradually more and more until reaching around 60 thousand just before the Urbi et Orbi - Romans and pilgrims from all over the world who from the early hours of the morning filled the square.

No homily was given, as usual, since the Pope gave his homily at the Easter vigil.

"May we be reborn in the light of life, renewed by your Spirit": this is the Pope's prayer in Latin after the song of the Gloria. The words of the homily at the celebration of Mass in the Night still resonate, then also relaunched with a post on X from the @pontifex account: "Let us raise our gaze to Jesus". "If we let ourselves be taken by the hand by Jesus, no experience of failure and pain, no matter how much it hurts us, can have the last word on the meaning and destiny of our life". 

The liturgy of the Word takes us back to the experience recounted in the Acts of the Apostles in chapter 10 (We ate and drank with him after the resurrection from the dead); breaks out with the acclamation of Psalm 117 (This is the day that the Lord has made: let us rejoice and rejoice); and again exhorts, through Saint Paul's invitation to the Colossians, to seek "the things that are above, where Christ is". The Gospel of John, proclaimed first in Latin and then in Greek, is that wonderful story of Mary Magdalene who goes to the tomb from which the stone had been removed.

The assembly, which occupies the entire St. Peter's Square and Viale della Conciliazione with the construction sites for the Jubilee at the end, gathers, as per tradition, in silence for personal reflection which replaces the homily. In the front row, as usual, faithful in wheelchairs accompanied by nuns. And again in Latin the prayer of the Creed and then the voices of the Universal Prayer in Arabic, Spanish, Tamil, Portuguese, Chinese. The intentions are for the newly baptized (let them grow in listening to the Word, in assiduous prayer and in active charity); for the gift of peace (may concord and harmony reign and all conflict and injustice cease in the world); for persecuted Christians (may they be strengthened in faith and perseverance, and enlightened in seeking ways of dialogue and reconciliation); for all families (light for parents of education in the faith and docility for children so that they can breathe the good scent of Christ).

Groups of people from different countries participate in the offertory procession, in which some children also participate. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, celebrates at the altar for the consecration. "Christ is our Easter, sacrificed lamb: let us therefore celebrate the feast, hallelujah, hallelujah": it is the communion antiphon that is distributed to the faithful crowded in every corner. Thus the Easter Triduum ends in the awareness that death does not have the last word. After Mass, the Pope toured in the popemobile through the various sectors of the square and also along Viale della Conciliazione to greet and bless the pilgrims and cheering tourists.

Source: Vatican News Italian Ed.