Pope calls for world peace in first Easter speech

Pope calls for world peace in first Easter speech
Pope Francis appeared before a crowd of an estimated 250,000 people to deliver his first Easter Sunday speech since being elected pontiff, during which he made a strong appeal for world peace.


Pope Francis stood before an audience of more than 250,000 people to give his first Easter Sunday speech since he was elected to the papacy, during which he called for world peace, urged respect for the environment and pushed for a diplomatic solution to the crisis on the Korean peninsula.
In his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) address, he also appealed for a resumption of peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, an end to the civil war in Syria and political solutions to conflicts in several African countries.

Formally known as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, Pope Francis has made the environment an early hallmark of his pontificate, condemning the “iniquitous exploitation of natural resources” and urging his followers to be “guardians” of creation.

Francis delivered his message from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica – the same spot from where he first appeared to the world as pope after his election on March 13 – to a crowd estimated by the Vatican at more than a quarter of a million people.


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“Peace in Asia, above all on the Korean peninsula: may disagreements be overcome and a renewed spirit of reconciliation grow,” he said, speaking in Italian.

North Korea said on Saturday it was entering a “state of war” with South Korea. Tensions have been high since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered a third nuclear weapons test in February, breaching UN sanctions and ignoring warnings from North Korea’s sole major ally, China, not to do so.

People thronged the open jeep that carried Pope Francis around at the end of a Mass. He stopped to accept a jersey with his “Bergoglio” name on it from fans of an Argentine football club and to comfort a handicapped man.

Francis, who has brought a more simple and personal style to the papacy, said the message of Easter is that faith can help people transform their lives by letting “those desert places in our hearts bloom”.

Guardians of creation

“How many deserts, even today, do human beings need to cross?! Above all, the desert within, when we have no love for God or neighbour, when we fail to realise that we are guardians of all that the creator has given us and continues to give us,” he said.

Earlier, at a Mass in a square bedecked by more than 40,000 plants and flowers, he wore relatively simple white vestments, as opposed to his predecessor Benedict, who preferred elaborate robes.

The huge crowd spilled out of St. Peter’s Square and into surrounding streets. They included many who had come to see a pope counted on to rehabilitate a Church marred by scandals to do with sexual abuse of children and allegations of corruption.