EASTER SUNDAY: LOVE LETS HOPE FLOURISH IN THE DESERT

Vatican City, 20 April 2014 (VIS) – At 10.15 today, Easter Sunday, the Holy Father Francis celebrated the solemn Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord in St. Peter's Square, which was adorned with 35,000 plants and flowers (tulips, narcissus and hyacinths), offered by Dutch florists. During the celebration, which began with the "Resurrexit" rite – the opening of an icon of the Risen Lord, placed next to the papal altar – was attended by more than 150,000 faithful from all around the world. The Pope did not pronounce a homily but following Mass he delivered an Easter message and imparted his “Urbi et Orbi” blessing.

At midday, from the central balcony of the Vatican basilica, the Pope addressed the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square and all those following the event on radio or television, and made an appeal for those affected by the Ebola virus outbreak in various African countries, and for peace in Syria, Iraq, Venezuela and Ukraine, for an end to the clashes in the Central African Republic, Nigerian and South Sudan, and for the resumption of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. He then imparted his “Urbi et Orbi” blessing, to the city and the world.

“A happy and holy Easter!” said the Bishop of Rome. “The Church throughout the world echoes the angel’s message to the women: 'Do not be afraid! I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised… Come, see the place where he lay'.

This is the culmination of the Gospel, it is the Good News par excellence: Jesus, who was crucified, is risen! This event is the basis of our faith and our hope. If Christ were not raised, Christianity would lose its very meaning; the whole mission of the Church would lose its impulse, for this is the point from which it first set out and continues to set out ever anew. The message which Christians bring to the world is this: Jesus, Love incarnate, died on the cross for our sins, but God the Father raised him and made him the Lord of life and death. In Jesus, love has triumphed over hatred, mercy over sinfulness, goodness over evil, truth over falsehood, life over death.

That is why we tell everyone: 'Come and see!' In every human situation, marked by frailty, sin and death, the Good News is no mere matter of words, but a testimony to unconditional and faithful love: it is about leaving ourselves behind and encountering others, being close to those crushed by life’s troubles, sharing with the needy, standing at the side of the sick, elderly and the outcast… 'Come and see!': Love is more powerful, love gives life, love makes hope blossom in the wilderness.

With this joyful certainty in our hearts, today we turn to you, risen Lord!

Help us to seek you and to find you, to realize that we have a Father and are not orphans; that we can love and adore you.

Help us to overcome the scourge of hunger, aggravated by conflicts and by the immense wastefulness for which we are often responsible.

Enable us to protect the vulnerable, especially children, women and the elderly, who are at times exploited and abandoned.

Enable us to care for our brothers and sisters struck by the Ebola epidemic in Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone and Liberia, and to care for those suffering from so many other diseases which are also spread through neglect and dire poverty.

Comfort all those who cannot celebrate this Easter with their loved ones because they have been unjustly torn from their affections, like the many persons, priests and laity, who in various parts of the world have been kidnapped.

Comfort those who have left their own lands to migrate to places offering hope for a better future and the possibility of living their lives in dignity and, not infrequently, of freely professing their faith.

We ask you, Lord Jesus, to put an end to all war and every conflict, whether great or small, ancient or recent.

We pray in a particular way for Syria, beloved Syria, that all those suffering the effects of the conflict can receive needed humanitarian aid and that neither side will again use deadly force, especially against the defenceless civil population, but instead boldly negotiate the peace long awaited and long overdue!

Jesus, Lord of glory, we ask you to comfort the victims of fratricidal acts of violence in Iraq and to sustain the hopes raised by the resumption of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

We beg for an end to the conflicts in the Central African Republic and a halt to the brutal terrorist attacks in parts of Nigeria and the acts of violence in South Sudan.

We ask that hearts be turned to reconciliation and fraternal concord in Venezuela.

By your resurrection, which this year we celebrate together with the Churches that follow the Julian calendar, we ask you to enlighten and inspire the initiatives that promote peace in Ukraine so that all those involved, with the support of the international community, will make every effort to prevent violence and, in a spirit of unity and dialogue, chart a path for the country’s future. On this day, may they be able to proclaim, as brothers and sisters, that Christ is risen, Khrystos voskres!

Lord, we pray to you for all the peoples of the earth: you who have conquered death, grant us your life, grant us your peace! 'Christus surrexit, venite et videte!' Dear brothers and sisters, Happy Easter!”.

EASTER MONDAY: MARIA, MOTHER OF HOPE

Vatican City, 21 April 2014 (VIS) – At midday today, on “Monday of the Angel”, the Pope appeared at the window of his study to pray the Regina Coeli – the prayer that substitutes the Angelus at Easter time – with the thousands of faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square.

Francis wished all present a happy Easter, commenting that the prevalent sentiment in the Gospel readings of the Resurrection is “joy filled with wonder … a joy that comes from within”, and that through the liturgy we relive the state of mind of the disciples upon receiving the news from the women.

“May this experience, imprinted in the Gospel, become imprinted in our hearts and shine through in our lives”, he continued. Those who have this experience, he explained, "become witnesses of the Resurrection, because in a sense, he himself is risen, she herself is risen. Thus they are able to bring a 'ray' of light of the Risen Lord to different situations: to happy ones, making them even more beautiful and preserving them from selfishness; and to painful ones, bringing serenity and hope”.

The Pope advised rereading the chapters of the Gospel that recount the Resurrection and also thinking of “the joy of Mary, the Mother of Jesus”. “Mary's heart, after passing through the experience of the death and resurrection of her Son, seen through the eyes of faith as the supreme expression of God's love, became a source of peace, comfort, hope, mercy. All the prerogatives of our Mother come from this: from her participation in the Paschal mystery of Jesus. ... From Friday to Sunday morning, she did not lose hope: we contemplated as a mother both sorrowful and full of hope. She, the Mother of all the disciples, the Mother of the Church, is the Mother of hope. We ask her, the silent witness of Jesus' death and resurrection, to lead us in the joy of Easter”, concluded Pope Francis.

JESUS' PAIN ON THE CROSS REFLECTS THE PAIN OF HUMANITY

Vatican City, 16 April 2014 (VIS) – The suffering of Jesus on the Cross, that reflects the pain of humanity and represents the divine response to the mystery of the evil that is so difficult to understand, was the theme of Pope Francis' catechesis during the general audience held today, Holy Wednesday, in which the liturgy presents the story of Judas' betrayal and Christ, it emerges, has a price.

“This dramatic act marks the beginning of the Passion of Christ, a painful path that He chooses with absolute freedom. He says this clearly Himself: 'I lay down my life. … No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord'”. The path of humiliation begins here, with this betrayal, with Jesus as if he were on the market: he is worth thirty pieces of silver. And Jesus undertakes the path of humiliation … unto the end”.

The humiliation of Christ culminates with his death on the Cross, which is “the worst death, reserved to slaves and criminals. Jesus was considered a prophet, but died like a criminal. When we look at Jesus in His Passion, we see as if we were looking in a mirror the evil and pain of death. Often we feel horror at the evil and pain that surrounds us and we ask, 'Why does God allow this?'. It wounds us profoundly to see suffering and death, especially of the innocent. It pains our hearts when we see children suffering. It is the mystery of evil, and Jesus takes upon Himself all this evil, all this suffering. This week it will do good to all of us to take a crucifix and to kiss Christ's wounds. He takes all human suffering upon Himself, He vests Himself with this suffering”.

“We expect that God, in his omnipotence, will defeat injustice, evil, sin and suffering with a triumphant divine victory. Instead, God shows us a humble victory that in human terms seems to be a failure”, continued the Holy Father. “And we can say this: God wins in failure. Indeed, the Son of God on the Cross appears to be a defeated man: He suffers, He is betrayed, He is vilified, and finally dies. But Jesus allows evil to set upon Him, He takes it all upon Him in order to vanquish it. His Passion is not incidental; his death – that death – was 'foretold'. It is an unsettling mystery, but we know the secret of this mystery, of this extraordinary humility: God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son”.

“This week, let us consider Jesus' pain, and let us say to ourselves: it is for me; even if I were the only person in the world, He would have done this, for me. Let us kiss the crucifix and say: 'For me, thank you Jesus, for me ...”. When all appears to be lost, when no-one remains because the shepherd has been smitten and the flock has scattered, God will intervene with the power of the resurrection. Jesus' resurrection is not the happy ending of a fairy tale, it is not the happy ending of a film, but rather it is God's intervention at the point where human hope is shattered. … When all seems lost, at that moment of pain when many people feel the need to kiss the Cross, this is the moment closest to the resurrection. The night is at its darkest just before dawn breaks, just before the light emerges; in the darkest moment, God intervenes and resurrects”.

Jesus, who chose to take this path, “calls us to follow Him on His path of humiliation. When in certain moments in life we are not able to find any way out of our difficulties, when we sink into the deepest darkness, it is the moment of our humiliation in which we are entirely laid bare, in which we discover that we are fragile and sinners. It is precisely in that moment that we must not mask our failure, but rather open ourselves up, trusting in our hope in God, just as Jesus did”.

“This week”, the Holy Father concluded, “it will to us good to take a crucifix in our hands, to kiss it many times and to say, 'Thank you Jesus, thank you, Lord!'”.

DECREES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR CAUSES OF SAINTS

Vatican City, 16 April 2014 (VIS) – Yesterday in the Vatican the Holy Father received in private audience Archbishop Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and authorised the promulgation of decrees concerning the following causes:

MIRACLES

- Blessed Ludovico da Casoria (ne Arcangelo Palmentieri), Italian professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor and founder of the Congregation of Franciscan Sisters of St. Elizabeth (“Bigie) (1814-1885).

- Blessed Amato Ronconi, Italian layperson of the Secular Franciscan Order, founder of the Hospital-Hospice for Poor Pilgrims of Saludecio, now known as the Beato Amato Ronconi Nursing Home (1226-1292).

HEROIC VIRTUES

- Servant of God Alain-Marie Guynot de Boismenu, French professed priest of the Congregation of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; apostolic vicar of Papua (1870-1953).

- Servant of God Wilhelm Janauschek, Austrian professed priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (1859-1926).

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 16 April 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has:

- appointed Bishop Zbigniew Kiernikowski of Siedlce, Poland, as bishop of Legnica (area 7,080, population 851,500, Catholics 776,700, priests 475, religious 279), Poland. He succeeds Bishop Stefan Cichy, whose resignation upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.

- appointed Bishop Joao Bosco Barcosa De Sousa, O.F.M., of Uniao da Vitoria, Brazil, as bishop of Osasco (area 2,477, population 2,490,000, Catholics 2,051,000, priests 128, religious 284), Brazil. He succeeds Bishop Ercilio Turco, whose resignation upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.

- appointed Bishop Kazimierz Gurda, formerly auxiliary of Kielce, Poland, as bishop of Siedlce (area 11,440, population 737,600, Catholics 726,600, priests 656, religious 392), Poland.

- appointed Msgr. Giuseppe Piemontese, O.F.M. Conv., as bishop of Terni-Narni-Amelia (area 871, population 159,700, Catholics 157,900, priests 130, permanent deacons 23, religious 121) Italy. The bishop-elect was born in Monte Sant'Angelo, Italy in 1946, and was ordained a priest in 1971. He gave his perpetual vows in 1977. He has served as priest in a parish in Japigia, Bari, member of the definitor of the Province, provincial minister and custodian of the Sacred Convent of Assisi.