EASTER SATURDAY: EASTER IS THE FEAST OF THE NEW CREATION

Vatican City, 7 April 2012 (VIS) - At 9 p.m. today in St. Peter's Basilica, the Pope presided at the solemn Easter vigil, which began in the atrium of the basilica where he blessed the new fire and lighted the Easter candle. This was followed by the procession towards the altar with the singing of the "Exultet". Then came the Liturgy of the Word and the Baptismal and Eucharistic Liturgies which the Holy Father concelebrated with cardinals.

During the course of the vigil, the Holy Father administered the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation to eight catechumens from Italy, Albania, Slovakia, Germany, Turkmenistan, Cameroon and the U.S.A.

Following the Gospel reading, the Holy Father delivered his homily, which focused on the triumph of light over darkness.

"Easter is the feast of the new creation", he said. "Jesus is risen and dies no more. He has opened the door to a new life, one that no longer knows illness and death. He has taken mankind up into God Himself. ... Creation has become greater and broader. Easter Day ushers in a new creation, but that is precisely why the Church starts the liturgy on this day with the old creation, so that we can learn to understand the new one aright. ... Two things are particularly important here in connection with this liturgy. On the one hand, creation is presented as a whole that includes the phenomenon of time. The seven days are an image of completeness, unfolding in time. They are ordered towards the seventh day, the day of the freedom of all creatures for God and for one another. Creation is therefore directed towards the coming together of God and His creatures; it exists so as to open up a space for the response to God’s great glory, an encounter between love and freedom. On the other hand, what the Church hears on Easter night is above all the first element of the creation account: “God said, ‘let there be light!’”".

"What is the creation account saying here?", the Holy Father asked. "Light makes life possible. ... Evil hides. ... To say that God created light means that God created the world as a space for knowledge and truth, as a space for encounter and freedom, as a space for good and for love. Matter is fundamentally good, being itself is good. And evil does not come from God-made being, rather, it comes into existence through denial. It is a “no”.

"At Easter, on the morning of the first day of the week, God said once again: “Let there be light”. The night on the Mount of Olives, the solar eclipse of Jesus’ passion and death, the night of the grave had all passed. Now it is the first day once again - creation is beginning anew. ... Jesus rises from the grave. Life is stronger than death. Good is stronger than evil. ... But this applies not only to Him, not only to the darkness of those days. With the resurrection of Jesus, light itself is created anew. He draws all of us after Him into the new light of the resurrection and he conquers all darkness".

"Through the Sacrament of Baptism and the profession of faith, the Lord has built a bridge across to us, through which the new day reaches us. The Lord says to the newly-baptised: 'Fiat lux' - let there be light. God’s new day - the day of indestructible life, comes also to us".

"The darkness enshrouding God and obscuring values is the real threat to our existence and to the world in general. ... Today we can illuminate our cities so brightly that the stars of the sky are no longer visible. Is this not an image of the problems caused by our version of enlightenment? With regard to material things, our knowledge and our technical accomplishments are legion, but what reaches beyond, the things of God and the question of good, we can no longer identify. Faith, then, which reveals God’s light to us, is the true enlightenment, enabling God’s light to break into our world, opening our eyes to the true light".

"On Easter night, the night of the new creation, the Church presents the mystery of light using a unique and very humble symbol: the Paschal candle. This is a light that lives from sacrifice. The candle shines inasmuch as it is burnt up. ... Thus the Church presents most beautifully the paschal mystery of Christ, Who gives Himself and so bestows the great light. Secondly, we should remember that the light of the candle is a fire. ... Here too the mystery of Christ is made newly visible. Christ, the light, is fire, flame, burning up evil and so reshaping both the world and ourselves. ... And this fire is both heat and light: not a cold light, but one through which God’s warmth and goodness reach down to us".

In conclusion, Benedict XVI recalled that the the candle "has its origin in the work of bees. So the whole of creation plays its part. In the candle, creation becomes a bearer of light. But in the mind of the Fathers, the candle also in some sense contains a silent reference to the Church. The cooperation of the living community of believers in the Church in some way resembles the activity of bees. It builds up the community of light. So the candle serves as a summons to us to become involved in the community of the Church, whose raison d’etre is to let the light of Christ shine upon the world".

EASTER MESSAGE: THE POPE CALLS FOR PEACE IN SYRIA, NIGERIA AND PALESTINE

Vatican City, 8 April 2012 (VIS) - Given below are extracts from the message which His Holiness Benedict XVI read out during the course of the Easter Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord, celebrated this morning in St. Peter's Square in the presence of more than 100,000 faithful.

"Dear brothers and sisters in Rome and throughout the world! ... May the jubilant voice of the Church reach all of you with the words which the ancient hymn puts on the lips of Mary Magdalene, the first to encounter the risen Jesus on Easter morning. ... “I have seen the Lord!”".

"Every Christian relives the experience of Mary Magdalene. It involves an encounter which changes our lives: the encounter with a unique Man Who lets us experience all God’s goodness and truth, Who frees us from evil not in a superficial and fleeting way, but sets us free radically, heals us completely and restores our dignity. ... All my yearnings for goodness find in Him a real possibility of fulfilment: with Him I can hope for a life that is good, full and eternal, for God Himself has drawn near to us, even sharing our humanity".

"In this world, hope can not avoid confronting the harshness of evil. It is not thwarted by the wall of death alone, but even more by the barbs of envy and pride, falsehood and violence. Jesus passed through this mortal mesh in order to open a path to the kingdom of life. For a moment Jesus seemed vanquished: darkness had invaded the land, the silence of God was complete, hope a seemingly empty word.

"And lo, on the dawn of the day after the Sabbath, the tomb is found empty. ... The signs of the resurrection testify to the victory of life over death, love over hatred, mercy over vengeance".

"If Jesus is risen, then - and only then - has something truly new happened, something that changes the state of humanity and the world. Then He, Jesus, is someone in Whom we can put absolute trust; we can put our trust not only in His message but in Jesus himself, for the Risen One does not belong to the past, but is present today, alive. Christ is hope and comfort in a particular way for those Christian communities suffering most for their faith on account of discrimination and persecution. And He is present as a force of hope through His Church, which is close to all human situations of suffering and injustice.

"May the risen Christ grant hope to the Middle East and enable all the ethnic, cultural and religious groups in that region to work together to advance the common good and respect for human rights. Particularly in Syria, may there be an end to bloodshed and an immediate commitment to the path of respect, dialogue and reconciliation, as called for by the international community. May the many refugees from that country who are in need of humanitarian assistance find the acceptance and solidarity capable of relieving their dreadful sufferings. May the paschal victory encourage the Iraqi people to spare no effort in pursuing the path of stability and development. In the Holy Land, may Israelis and Palestinians courageously take up anew the peace process.

"May the Lord, the victor over evil and death, sustain the Christian communities of the African continent; may He grant them hope in facing their difficulties, and make them peacemakers and agents of development in the societies to which they belong.

"May the risen Jesus comfort the suffering populations of the Horn of Africa and favour their reconciliation; may He help the Great Lakes Region, Sudan and South Sudan, and grant their inhabitants the power of forgiveness. In Mali, now experiencing delicate political developments, may the glorious Christ grant peace and stability. To Nigeria, which in recent times has experienced savage terrorist attacks, may the joy of Easter grant the strength needed to take up anew the building of a society which is peaceful and respectful of the religious freedom of its citizens. Happy Easter to all!"

Following his Message, the Pope extended Easter greetings in sixty-five languages before imparting the "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) blessing.

POPE HIGHLIGHTS THE SPECIAL BOND WOMEN HAVE WITH JESUS

Vatican City, 9 April 2012 (VIS) - Yesterday evening the Holy Father travelled to his residence at Castelgandolfo outside Rome for a brief period of rest. At midday today he appeared on the balcony of the apostolic palace there to pray the Regina Coeli with faithful gathered below in the building's internal courtyard. The Regina Coeli replaces the Angelus during the Easter season.

"In many countries Easter Monday is a holiday. People make trips to the countryside, or mover further afield to visit relatives and to be together as a family. However I would like Christians to keep the reason for this holiday in their minds and hearts: the Resurrection of Christ, the definitive mystery of our faith", the Pope said.

"The moment of the resurrection per se is not described by the Evangelists. It remains a mystery, not in the sense that it is less real, but that it is hidden, beyond the scope of our understanding, like a light so bright that we cannot look at it without our eyes being blinded. The narratives begin when, at dawn on the day after the Saturday, the women went to the tomb and found it open and empty. ... Having received the announcement of the resurrection from the Angel they ran, full of fear and joy, to give the news to the disciples. At that very moment they met Jesus, bowing before His feet and worshipping Him as He said: 'Do not be afraid, go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me'.

"All the Gospels dedicate a lot of space to the women in the narratives of the apparitions of the Risen Jesus, just as they do in those of His passion and death. In Israel at that time the testimony of women did not have official juridical weight, but women experienced a special bond with the Lord and this is fundamental for the real life of the Christian community, in all times and ages, not just in the early days of the Church".

The Pope concluded by recalling that the model for this relationship with Jesus, especially in the Easter mystery, is Mary, Mother of the Lord. "Through the transforming experience of her Son's passion, the Virgin Mary also became Mother of the Church; that is, of each believer and of the entire community".

BENEDICT XVI RECALLS HIS APOSTOLIC TRIP TO MEXICO AND CUBA

Vatican City, 4 April 2012 (VIS) - Benedict XVI dedicated his remarks during this morning's general audience today to his recent trip to Mexico and Cuba by which, he said "I sought to embrace the entire continent, inviting everyone to live together in hope in concrete commitment to united progress towards a better future". The audience was held in St. Peter's Square in the presence of 11,000 people.

The Holy Father recalled the reasons for his journey: The bicentenary of the independence of Mexico and other Latin America countries, the twentieth anniversary of diplomatic relations between Mexico and the Holy See, and the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the image of "Nuestra Senora de la Caridad del Cobre" in Cuba.

The Pope noted how his visit had been characterised by "the extraordinary, festive and vivacious welcome" of Mexicans, a sign of "the warm embrace of an entire people". He specifically mentioned his stay in the city of Leon where, in the presence of the civil and religious authorities, he had "underscored the need to recognise and protect fundamental human rights, among which religious freedom is particularly important", and had given guarantees of his "closeness to those who suffer social ills such as conflicts, old and new, corruption and violence". Nonetheless, he remarked, the widespread enthusiasm bore witness "to the tenacious hope of Mexican Christians, a hope that remains alive in peoples' hearts despite moments of difficulty".

Also in Leon, the Pope met with children and adolescents, whose joy "expressed the deep-felt desire of all young people in Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean to live in peace, serenity and harmony, in a just and reconciled society".

The Holy Father continued his reminiscences: "The Lord's disciples must seek to augment the joy of being Christian and the joy of belonging to the Church. Such joy foments the energies necessary to serve Christ in situations of difficulty and suffering". For this reason the Pope had exhorted the thousands of faithful participating in Sunday Mass in Leon's Parque Bicentenario "to trust in the goodness of Almighty God, which can transform unbearable and incomprehensible situations from within, from the heart". He had also expressed his gratitude "to those who spread the Gospel in complex situations beset with restrictions".

Benedict XVI had left Mexico calling on the Mexican people "to remain faithful to the Lord and His Church, firmly anchored in their Christian roots".

The Pope then turned his attention to the Cuban leg of his journey. "I went there", he said, "to support the mission of the Catholic Church, which is committed to the joyful announcement of the Gospel, notwithstanding limited means and despite the difficulties which still have to be overcome before religion can offer its spiritual and educational services in the public arena". The Holy Father highlighted the good relations that exist between the State and the Holy See, relations "which aim to serve the living and constructive presence of the local Church. I also gave assurances that the Pope carries the concerns and aspirations of all Cubans in his heart, especially those suffering due to restrictions on freedom".

"One moment of intense spirituality", the Pope recalled, was the first Mass he celebrated on Cuban soil, marking the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the image of "Nuestra Senora de la Caridad del Cobre", patron of the island. The thousands of people who turned out for the ceremony were the "sign of a Church which is emerging from a difficult situation, but which has a vivacious witness of charity and an active presence in people's lives".

"I invited Cuban Catholics and the entire population, who are hoping for a better future, to give renewed vigour to their faith and, with the courage to forgive and comprehend, so as to help build an open and renewed society, where there is ever more space for God, because without God the world becomes an inhospitable place for mankind".

On the second stage of his Cuban journey, Havana, the young "were the main participants in the enthusiastic welcome I received as I made my way to the nunciature. There I was able to meet with local bishops to discuss the challenges the Cuban Church is called to face, in the awareness that people are looking to her with increasing trust", the Pope said.

During Mass on Sunday morning "I reminded everyone that Cuba and the world need change. This will only come about if everyone opens to the integral truth about man (an indispensable premise in order to achieve freedom) and decides to spread reconciliation and fraternity. ... I also underlined the fact that the Church does not seek privileges, but asks to be able to proclaim and celebrate the faith, also in public, bringing the Gospel's message of hope and peace to all sectors of society". In this context, Benedict XVI expressed his appreciation for the progress made by the authorities in Cuba and highlighted the need to continue this process until achieving complete religious freedom.

Speaking of his departure, the Holy Father mentioned the thousands of Cuban faithful who, despite the rain, had come out to greet him on his way to the airport. In his farewell address he explained that the moment had come for the various members of Cuban society "to make a sincere effort at collaboration and patient dialogue, for the good of the country". In this light, his own presence on the island was intended "to encourage people to open their hearts to Christ, Who is the source of hope and a power for good".

Benedict XVI affirmed that his pastoral trip to Mexico and Cuba had borne positive pastoral results, and he expressed the hope that both countries would harvest abundant fruits, to build a future of peace and brotherhood.

In conclusion the Holy Father mentioned the Easter Triduum, the culmination of the liturgical year which begins tomorrow with the Mass of the Last Supper. "Each of us", he told the faithful, "was loved by Jesus 'unto the end'; that is, unto the giving of Himself on the cross, when He cried: 'It is finished'. Let us allows ourselves to be touched by this love, let us allow ourselves to be transformed, so that the resurrection can truly be achieved in each one of us".

POPE RECALLS VICTIMS OF ANTI PERSONNEL MINES

Vatican City, 4 April 2012 (VIS) - After delivering language greetings to the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square for his general audience, the Holy Father recalled the fact that today marks the international day to raise awareness on anti personnel mines. He expressed his closeness to victims and their families, and expressed his encouragement to "everyone who works to free humanity from these terrible hidden devices which, as Blessed John Paul II said when the Anti Personnel Mines Convention came into force, prevent mankind from 'walking together on the journey of life without fearing destruction and death'".