{"id":34752,"date":"2023-04-09T19:47:03","date_gmt":"2023-04-10T01:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pope-at-easter-pray-for-ukrainian-russian-people-refugees\/"},"modified":"2023-04-10T01:47:03","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T01:47:03","slug":"pope-at-easter-pray-for-ukrainian-russian-people-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pope-at-easter-pray-for-ukrainian-russian-people-refugees\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope at Easter: Pray for Ukrainian, Russian people, refugees"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pope
Pope Francis waves from his popemobile to the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican at the end of the Easter Sunday Mass on April 9. (Alessandra Tarantino\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Alessandra Tarantino<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

VATICAN CITY \u2013 In an Easter message highlighting hope, Pope Francis on Sunday invoked prayers for both the Ukrainian and Russian people, praised nations which welcome refugees and called on Israelis and Palestinians wracked by the latest surge in deadly violence to forge a \u201cclimate of trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Francis, along with dozens of prelates and tens of thousands of faithful, celebrated Easter Mass in a flower-adorned St. Peter\u2019s Square, affirming the Christian belief that Jesus rose from the dead days after his crucifixion.<\/p>\n

The 86-year-old pontiff topped the celebration with a traditional speech about troubled places in the world. Encouraging \u201ctrust among individuals, peoples and nations,\u201d Francis said Easter\u2019s joy \u201cillumines the darkness and gloom in which, all too often, our world finds itself enveloped.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pope\u2019s Easter message is known by its Latin name, \u201cUrbi et Orbi,\u201d which means \u201cto the city and the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine in February 2022, Francis has repeatedly called for the fighting to end and sought prayers for the \u201cmartyred\u201d Ukrainian people.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian diplomats have complained that he hasn\u2019t come down hard enough in his statements on Russia and particularly Russian President Vladimir Putin as the Vatican tries to avoid alienating Moscow.<\/p>\n

\u201cHelp the beloved Ukrainian people on their journey towards peace, and shed the light of Easter upon the people of Russia,\u201d Francis implored God in his Easter speech, which he delivered while sitting in a chair on the central balcony of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica facing the square. \u201cComfort the wounded and all those who have lost loved ones because of the war, and grant that prisoners may return safe and sound to their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

He urged the international community to work to end the war in Ukraine and \u201call conflict and bloodshed in the world, beginning with Syria, which still awaits peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Francis also prayed for those who lost loved ones in an earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey two months ago, claiming tens of thousands of lives.<\/p>\n

With a renewal in deadly violence affecting both Israelis and Palestinians in recent days, Francis called for a \u201cresumption of dialogue, in a climate of trust and reciprocal respect, between Israelis and Palestinians, so that peace may reign in the Holy City and in the entire region,\u201d a reference to Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

But Francis also noted progress on some fronts.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us rejoice at the concrete signs of hope that reach us from so many countries, beginning with those that offers assistance and welcome to all fleeing war and poverty,\u201d he said, without naming any particular nations.<\/p>\n

How to care for asylum-seekers, migrants and refugees, and whether to allow them entrance, is a raging political and social debate in much of Europe, as well in the United States and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Francis also prayed that national leaders \u201censure that no man or woman may encounter discrimination\u201d and that there would be \u201cfull respect for human rights and democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

With migrants risking their lives in smugglers\u2019 unseaworthy boats in hopes of reaching Europe, the pope lamented that Tunisia\u2019s people, particularly the young, struggle with social and economic hardship.<\/p>\n

In the last two weeks, dozens have died or were left missing after attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Tunisia.<\/p>\n

The pope included Lebanon and two African countries he visited this year \u2013 South Sudan and Congo \u2013 among the nations in need of ending divisions and building reconciliation.<\/p>\n

Speaking about Haiti, he appealed to \u201cpolitical actors and the international community to seek a definitive solution to the many problems that afflict that sorely tried people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bloody conflicts cited by Francis contrasted with a riot of bright colors lent by orange-red tulips, yellow sprays of forsythia and daffodils, hyacinths and other colorful seasonal flowers that decorated St. Peter\u2019s Square. The blooms were trucked in trucks from the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

By the end of the pope\u2019s appearance, some 100,00 people had flocked to the square in time for the pontiff\u2019s speech, according to the Vatican\u2019s crowd count.<\/p>\n

A canopy on the edge of steps on the square sheltered the pontiff, who was back in the public eye for the Mass 12 hours after a 2.25-hour long Easter vigil ceremony in St. Peter\u2019s Basilica the night before.<\/p>\n

Francis was hospitalized March 29-April 1 for treatment of bronchitis. Still recovering, he skipped the traditional Good Friday procession at Rome\u2019s Colosseum due to unseasonably cold nighttime temperatures.<\/p>\n

Near the end of the more than two-hour-long Easter Sunday appearance, Francis seemed to run out of steam. His voice grew hoarse and he interrupted his speech at one point to cough.<\/p>\n

He nonetheless made several laps through the square in the popemobile after the Mass, waving and smiling at cheering well-wishers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Shed the light of Easter upon the people of Russia,\u2019 Francis says<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-34752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34752"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=34752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}