Photo: DSNEWS
On Sunday, 21 April, Pope Francis made a solemn appearance in front of tens of thousands of Catholics in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican for the first time since a severe bilateral pneumonia that recently nearly took his life. This was reported by Reuters.
The 88-year-old pontiff drove in an open papal car, sitting on a special elevation, greeting the crowd, which chanted “Viva il papa!” (“Long live the Pope!”) and held national flags. The papal car stopped several times so that Francis could bless the babies brought to him by pilgrims.
Although the Pope did not lead the Easter Mass itself due to medical advice to limit physical activity, he delivered the traditional blessing and Urbi et Orbi (“To the City and the World”) address at the end, which was read by his assistant from the main balcony of St Peter’s.
The main focus of the appeal is a call for an immediate end to the war in the Gaza Strip.
“I appeal to all parties to the conflict: declare a ceasefire, release hostages and help the starving people who want a peaceful future,” he said in his address.
The Pope also called on the Hamas group to immediately release all hostages and condemned the rise of anti-Semitism in the world, calling the trend “alarming”.
“I express my closeness to the suffering of the entire Israeli and Palestinian people,” Pope Francis said.
Back in January, the pontiff called the humanitarian situation in Gaza “very serious and shameful”, and before his five-week hospital stay, he had repeatedly stepped up his criticism of Israel’s actions in the Strip.
This year’s Easter address by Pope Francis was one of the Vatican’s most urgent humanitarian appeals, which at the same time demonstrated the Pontiff’s personal resilience after a serious illness.
