REGINA COELI: CHRIST IS TRULY RISEN

VATICAN CITY, APR 24, 2000 (VIS) - At midday today, the Pope appeared at his study window to pray the Regina Coeli - the prayer that substitutes the angelus during Easter - with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square.

Prior to the Marian prayer, the Pope recalled that today is Easter Monday, also traditionally known as Monday of the Angel because an angel appeared to the women who were weeping before Jesus' empty tomb and announced that He had risen.

"Life," said the Holy Father, "has conquered death. Faith is necessary to comprehend this new and marvelous horizon. Let us allow ourselves to be penetrated by the thoughts and emotions that resonate in the events of Easter: 'Yes, we are certain, Christ is truly risen!' This truth marked the lives of the Apostles who, after the Resurrection, felt their souls aflame with the desire to follow their Master and, having received the Holy Spirit, went out without delay proclaiming to everyone what they had personally seen and experienced."

He concluded: "The comforting announcement of the Resurrection has once more rung out for us: 'Christ, my hope, is Risen!' If Christ is risen we can look at each event of our lives with new eyes and a new heart. This is the Easter message that I would like to communicate to men and women the world over."

In the late afternoon, the Pope left by helicopter for his residence at Castelgandolfo.

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