{"id":68961,"date":"2013-04-01T01:53:49","date_gmt":"2013-03-31T22:53:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/?p=68961"},"modified":"2023-04-06T15:29:51","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T12:29:51","slug":"pope-francis-celebrates-first-easter-as-pontiff-praying-for-peace-before-huge-vatican-crowd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2013\/04\/01\/pope-francis-celebrates-first-easter-as-pontiff-praying-for-peace-before-huge-vatican-crowd\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis celebrates first Easter as pontiff praying for peace before huge Vatican crowd"},"content":{"rendered":"

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View Photo Gallery \u2014<\/strong> Christians celebrate Easter across the globe:\u2009Faithful around the world celebrate Easter Sunday with church services and community egg hunts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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By Associated Press<\/span><\/span>,<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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VATICAN CITY \u2014 Pope Francis marked Christianity\u2019s most joyous day with a passionate plea for world peace, celebrating his first Easter Sunday as pontiff in the enthusiastic company of more than 250,000 people who overflowed from St. Peter\u2019s Square.With eloquent words in his Easter message, Francis lamented enduring conflicts in the Middle East, on the Korean peninsula and elsewhere and remembered the world\u2019s neediest people. With physical gestures, he illustrated the personal, down-to-earth caring he brings as a pastor to this new papacy \u2014 cradling a disabled child held out to him in the crowd and delightedly accepting a surprise gift thrust at him.<\/article>\n<\/div>\n
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Pope Francis has celebrated his first Easter Mass today as 250,000 people packed St. Peter’s Square. On Saturday night, he celebrated a trimmed back Easter Vigil service at St. Peter’s Basilica.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Catholics, Protestants in the Mideast, Holy Land celebrate Easter<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Associated Press <\/span><\/p>\n

JERUSALEM \u2014 Catholics and Protestants flocked to churches to celebrate Easter on Sunday in the Holy Land and across the broader Middle East, praying, singing and rejoicing as a new pope pleaded for peace in the region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Iraqi Catholics flock to churches amid heavy security to celebrate Easter<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Associated Press <\/span><\/p>\n

BAGHDAD \u2014 Iraq\u2019s Catholic Christians flocked to churches to celebrate Easter Sunday, praying, singing and rejoicing in the resurrection of Christ behind high blast walls and tight security cordons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Pope celebrates trimmed back vigil<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Associated Press <\/span><\/p>\n

One of the dramatic moments of the Easter Vigil service was shortened along with Old Testament readings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Francis shared in his flock\u2019s exuberance as they celebrated Christianity\u2019s core belief that Jesus Christ rose from the dead following crucifixion. After Mass in flower-bedecked St. Peter\u2019s Square, he stepped aboard an open-topped white popemobile for a cheerful spin through pathways in the joyous crowd, kissing babies, smiling constantly and patting children on the head.One admirer of both the pope and his favorite soccer team from his Argentine homeland, Saints of San Lorenzo, insisted that Francis take a team jersey he was waving at the pontiff \u2014 \u201ctake it, go ahead, take it,\u201d the man seemed to be telling the pope. Finally, a delighted Francis obliged, briefly holding up the shirt, and the crowd roared in approval. He handed the shirt to an aide in the front seat, and the popemobile continued its whirl through the square.In a poignant moment, Francis cradled and kissed a physically disabled boy passed to him from the crowd. The child worked hard to make one of his arms hug the pope back, then succeeded, smiling in satisfaction as the pope patiently waited for the boy to give his greeting.<\/p>\n

Francis has repeatedly put concern for the poor and suffering at the center of his messages, and he pursued his promotion of the causes of peace and social justice in the Easter speech he delivered from the central balcony of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica, the same vantage point above the square where he was introduced to the world as the first Latin American pope on March 13.<\/p>\n

The Roman Catholic leader aimed his Easter greetings at \u201cevery house and every family, especially where the suffering is greatest, in hospitals, in prisons.\u201d Francis prayed that Jesus would inspire people to \u201cchange hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

As popes before him have, he urged Israelis and Palestinians to resume peace talks and end a conflict that \u201chas lasted all too long.\u201d And, in reflecting on the two-year-old Syrian crisis, Francis asked, \u201cHow much suffering must there still be before a political solution\u201d can be found?<\/p>\n

The pope also expressed desire for a \u201cspirit of reconciliation\u201d on the Korean peninsula, where North Korea says it has entered \u201ca state of war\u201d with South Korea. He also decried warfare and terrorism in Africa, as well as what he called the 21st century\u2019s most extensive form of slavery: human trafficking.<\/p>\n

The first pontiff to come from the Jesuits, an order with special concern for the poor, and the first pope to name himself after St. Francis, a medieval figure who renounced wealth to preach to the down-and-out, Francis lamented that the world is \u201cstill divided by greed looking for easy gain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier, wearing cream-colored vestments, Francis celebrated Mass on the esplanade in front of the basilica at an altar set up under a white canopy. He frequently bowed his head as if in silent reflection.<\/p>\n

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Francis seems to bring good weather to Rome. As has happened on several of the other first public outdoor appearances of his fledgling papacy, huge throngs defied forecasts of heavy rain to turn out. They were rewarded by dry skies and some bursts of sun through clouds.<\/p>\n

Vatican officials said by mid-ceremony, 250,000 people had come to the square, and thousands of others, including last-minute Romans, flocked to the square just in time to catch his blessing at the end.<\/p>\n

The square was a panoply of floral color. Chilly winter has postponed the blossoming of many flowers. Yellow forsythia and white lilies shone, along with bursts of lavender and pink, from potted azalea, rhododendron, wisteria and other plants.<\/p>\n

Francis thanked florists from the Netherlands for donating the flowers. He also advised people to let love transform their lives, or as he put it, \u201clet those desert places in our hearts bloom.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Vatican had prepared a list of brief Easter greetings in 65 languages, but Francis didn\u2019t read them. The Vatican didn\u2019t say why not, but has said that the new pope, at least for now, feels at ease using Italian, the everyday language of the Holy See. Francis also has stressed his role as a pastor to his flock, and, as Bishop of Rome, Italian would be his language.<\/p>\n

The pontiff improvised his parting words to the crowd. He repeated his Easter greeting to those \u201cwho have come from all over the world to this square at the heart of Christianity\u201d as well as to those \u201clinked by modern technology,\u201d a reference to TV and radio coverage as well as social media.<\/p>\n

Francis added that he was especially remembering \u201cthe weakest and the neediest\u201d and praying that all of humanity be guided along \u201cthe paths of justice, love and peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another departure from Easter tradition, Francis won\u2019t be heading for some post-holiday relaxation at the Vatican\u2019s summer palace in Castel Gandolfo, in the hills southeast of Rome. That retreat is already occupied by his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who went there in the last hours of his papacy on Feb. 28. Benedict became the first pope in 600 years to resign from the position, and eventually is to move back to the Vatican, after a convent there is readied for him.<\/p>\n

Francis so far has declined to move into Benedict\u2019s former apartment in the Apostolic Palace, into the rooms whose studio overlooks St. Peter\u2019s Square. He is still in the Vatican hotel where earlier this month he was staying along with other cardinals participating in the secret conclave to choose Benedict\u2019s successor.<\/p>\n

While Francis has just begun to make his mark on the church, it is plain he has little desire to embrace much of the pomp customarily associated with the office.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 View Photo Gallery \u2014 Christians celebrate Easter across the globe:\u2009Faithful around the world celebrate Easter Sunday with church services and community egg hunts. By Associated Press, VATICAN CITY \u2014 Pope Francis marked Christianity\u2019s most joyous day with a passionate plea for world peace, celebrating his first Easter Sunday as pontiff in the enthusiastic company […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":783450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}