At noon on Easter Sunday, Pope Francis delivered his message and imparted his blessing to the city and the world (urbi et orbi) from the Loggia of the Blessings of St. Peter’s Basilica.
“Dear brothers and sisters, Happy Easter!” he began. “Today throughout the world there resounds the message proclaimed two thousand years ago from Jerusalem: ‘Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, has been raised!’ (Mk 16:6).”
“The Church relives the amazement of the women who went to the tomb at dawn on the first day of the week,” he continued. “The tomb of Jesus had been sealed with a great stone.”
“Today too, great stones, heavy stones, block the hopes of humanity: the stone of war, the stone of humanitarian crises, the stone of human rights violations, the stone of human trafficking, and other stones as well …”