The Pope at the vigil: "Powerless in the face of war", Easter urges us to "go forward"

At times "we have felt powerless and discouraged before the power of evil, the conflicts that tear relationships, the logic of calculation and indifference that seem to govern society, the cancer of corruption, there is so much, the spread of injustice, the icy winds of war", said Pope Francis during the Easter Vigil of the Holy Night in the Vatican Basilica.

But the Pontiff then immediately emphasized that, as happened for the women who announced the resurrection of Christ, "the Passover of the Lord urges us to go forward, to come out of the sense of defeat, to roll away the stone of the tombs in which we often confine hope, to look with confidence to the future, because Christ has risen and changed the direction of history".

About eight thousand faithful attended St. Peter's Basilica for the Easter Mass celebrated by Francis, Vatican sources said. The Rite begins in the atrium of St. Peter's Basilica with the blessing of the fire and the preparation of the Paschal candle. The procession to the altar, with the lighted candle and the singing of the Exultet, is followed by the Liturgy of the Word and the Baptismal Liturgy during which the Pope administered the Sacraments of Christian initiation to 8 neophytes from Albania, United States of America, Nigeria, Italy and Venezuela.

Francis then invited, in his homily, not to lose hope. At times "we have perhaps come face to face with death, because it has taken away the sweet presence of our loved ones or because it has touched us in sickness or calamity, and we have easily fallen prey to disillusionment and the source of hope has dried up. Thus, for these or other situations, our paths stop in front of graves and we remain motionless to cry and regret, alone and powerless to repeat our 'why'".

But the Easter Gospel invites us to look ahead as women who "do not remain paralyzed before a tomb but, the Gospel says, 'hastily abandoned the tomb with fear and great joy, ran to give the announcement to his disciples'. They bring the news that will change life and history forever: Christ is risen!"