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Pope opens Easter Mass with call for peace
« on: Apr 20th, 2003, 9:58am » |
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Pope opens Easter Mass with call for peace
Sunday, April 20, 2003 Posted: 6:04 AM EDT (1004 GMT)
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope John Paul II began Easter Sunday Mass with a call to the faithful to work tirelessly for peace, as tens of thousands of people jammed rain-soaked St. Peter's Square for the service.
John Paul took his place under a canopy erected on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica after only a few hours of rest after presiding over a three-hour-long Easter vigil ceremony Saturday night in the basilica. He looked pale and weary, at one point yawning and cradling his head in his hands.
The Sunday morning Mass capped a strenuous Holy Week schedule of ceremonies for the 82-year-old pontiff, who, struggling with symptoms of Parkinson's disease, has difficulty in walking and reading long speeches.
John Paul told some 50,000 tourists, pilgrims and Romans that Easter brings peace that only the Lord can give, and he urged faithful to be "tireless workers of peace in justice and truth."
The conflict in Iraq has pained the pontiff, who vigorously opposed the war and tried to use Vatican diplomacy to avert it. His traditional speech on world affairs, scheduled for delivery at the end of the Mass, was expected to concentrate on the globe's hotspots.
During the Good Friday Colosseum procession, Iraqis were among the faithful chosen to carry the cross for the pope, who no longer can walk the half-mile of the route recalling Christ's suffering at his Crucifixion.
Under gray skies, the square was brightened by potted, flowering plants, including deep pink azaleas, a rainbow of tulips and sprays of lilac-hued wisteria.
To help the pope keep his packed schedule as his health problems worsened over the past years, the Vatican has come up with a variety of devices to ease his getting around.
The latest is a wheeled chair that can be raised and lowered and lets the pope celebrate Mass at the altar without standing up. He also now sits in a kind of wheeled chariot while being moved across the vast expanses of the basilica or the square. Until recently, he used to stand up in the device.
Even after the Mass began, thousands more faithful were streaming toward the square to receive the pope's Easter blessing at the end of the Mass and to listen to his "Urbi et Orbi" message -- Latin for "To the City and to the World."
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