The Easter message opens us to a hope that does not fade, to a light that never sets, to a fullness of joy that nothing can take away. Death has been defeated forever – it no longer has power over us, said Pope Leo XIV during his homily at the Easter Mass. Thousands of people gathered for the Eucharist in St. Peter’s Square.
Easter. Solemn Mass in St. Peter’s Square
“All creation shines today with a new light, a song of praise rises from the earth, our hearts rejoice with gladness: Christ has risen, and with Him we too rise to new life,” Pope Leo XIV emphasized.
“This Easter message embraces the mystery of our lives and the course of history. It reaches us even into the depths of death, through which we feel threatened, and at times defeated. It opens us to a hope that does not fade, to a light that never sets, to a fullness of joy that nothing can take away: death has been defeated forever, death no longer has power over us,” he said.
He noted that this is a message that is not always easy to accept, and a promise that is difficult to believe, because “the power of death always threatens us, both within and outside us.”
“Within us, when the burden of our sins prevents us from rising; when the disappointments or loneliness we experience extinguish our hopes; when worries or resentments suppress the joy of life; when we experience sadness or fatigue, when we feel betrayed or rejected, when we must confront our weakness, suffering, and hardship. Then it seems as if we have found ourselves in a tunnel with no visible way out,” the Pope explained.
“But death also lurks outside us. We see its presence in injustices, in narrow selfishness, in the oppression of the poor, in the lack of care for the most vulnerable. We see it in violence, in the wounds of the world, in the cry of suffering that rises from everywhere due to abuses that crush the weakest, due to the idolatry of profit that devastates the Earth’s resources, due to the violence of war, which kills and destroys,” he added.
He called on the faithful to carry the joy of the Resurrection in their lives, “so that wherever the shadow of death still lingers, the light of life may shine.”