Christians must be ‘the seeds of another humanity’

Pope Francis used his Easter message to urge Christians to remember that they must resist worldly pressures to make personal gain their first priority and “succeed at any cost”.

In his Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) blessing to some 50,000 pilgrims braving the rain in St Peter’s Square, Francis said: “The world proposes that we put ourselves forward at all costs, that we compete, that we prevail.” But Christians, he continued, “are the seeds of another humanity, in which we seek to live in service to one another”.
He added: “This is not weakness, but true strength. We ask today the grace not to succumb to the pride which fuels violence and war, but to have the humble courage of pardon and peace.”

The 78-year-old Pope called for an end to violent attacks on Christians and expressed his solidarity with the families of the students massacred in Holy Week by Islamist terrorists at Garissa University in Kenya.

He denounced the “absurd bloodshed” and “barbarous acts of violence” committed by groups such as Islamic State, saying: “We ask Jesus, the victor over death, to lighten the sufferings of our many brothers and sisters who are persecuted for his name, and of all those who suffer injustice as a result of ongoing conflicts and violence. There are so many of them.”

Francis also made an impassioned appeal for peace in the Middle East and other war-torn regions. He asked that peace be restored in the Holy Land and that in Syria and Iraq “the roar of arms may cease and that peaceful relations may be restored among the various groups which make up those beloved countries”.

He called on the international community to “not stand by before the immense humanitarian tragedy unfolding in these countries and the drama of the numerous refugees”.

The Pope, who looked visibly wearied by the weight of his serious message, “implored” peace for Libya, Yemen, Nigeria, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as for Ukraine, and praised the nuclear deal signed with Iran by the P5 + 1 (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany), this week.

On Holy Thursday he washed and kissed the feet of 12 prisoners at Rome’s Rebibbia prison plus those of a toddler living in the prison with his incarcerated mother. In an off-the-cuff homily, the Pope explained that to the Apostles’ shock and incomprehension at the Last Supper, instead of having a slave wash their feet, Jesus performed the ritual himself. Jesus gave his life in order “to give life to us, for each one of us ... for you, for you, for me, for them”, he said, pointing to the men and women inmates gathered in the chapel.

To draw authentic meaning from the ceremony, Francis said, everyone must “have the certainty … that when the Lord washes our foot, he washes away everything, he purifies us, he makes us feel his love once more”.