Francis greets cheering Easter crowds as he recovers
VATICAN CITY—Pope Francis entered St. Peter’s Square on Sunday in an open-air popemobile for the first time since surviving double pneumonia, greeting tens of thousands of Catholics after the Vatican’s celebration of Easter Mass.
The 88-year-old Pontiff sat in a raised chair in the back of the white vehicle, as people lined the aisles inside the square, many holding aloft national flags and shouting “Long live the Pope!”
The popemobile briefly stopped at several points around the square, decorated with colorful flowers for Easter, as papal aides brought forward babies from the crowd for Francis to bless. He gestured with his hands, but only raised them slightly.
Francis, who has been limiting his workload on doctors’ orders, did not preside over the Vatican’s Easter Mass but appeared at the end of the event for a twice-yearly blessing and message known as the “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world).
In an Easter message read aloud by an aide as the Pope looked on from the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, the Pontiff reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Concern over Gaza
Before a five-week hospital stay for pneumonia, which nearly killed him, Francis had been ramping up criticism of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave “very serious and shameful.”
In his Easter message, the Pontiff said the situation in Gaza was “dramatic and deplorable.” The Pope also called on Palestinian militant group Hamas to release its remaining hostages and condemned what he said was a “worrisome” trend of antisemitism in the world.
“I express my closeness to the sufferings… of all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people,” he said in his message.
“I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace,” he added.
Meeting with Vance
Despite his condition, Francis managed to hold a brief meeting with US Vice President JD Vance at the Domus Santa Marta “to exchange Easter greetings.”
Vance’s motorcade entered Vatican City through a side gate and parked near Francis’ hotel residence while Easter Mass was being celebrated in St. Peter’s Square.
The Vice President, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, had earlier tangled with the Pope over the Trump administration’s plans to deport migrants en masse. Francis has made caring for migrants a hallmark of his papacy.
After meeting the Pope, Vance and his family attended Easter Mass at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.
