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Feel Pain of Poor, Immigrants, Pope Francis Says at Easter Vigil


Pope Francis presides over a solemn Easter vigil ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, April 15, 2017. Holding a single candle, Francis moved down the center aisle of a darkened St. Peter's Basilica, symbolizing the darkness that fell after Jesus' crucifixion on Good Friday.
Pope Francis presides over a solemn Easter vigil ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, April 15, 2017. Holding a single candle, Francis moved down the center aisle of a darkened St. Peter's Basilica, symbolizing the darkness that fell after Jesus' crucifixion on Good Friday.

Pope Francis, leading the world's Roman Catholics into Easter, urged them Saturday not to ignore the plight of immigrants, the poor and other vulnerable people.

In his homily at an Easter vigil Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, Francis recounted the biblical account of Jesus Christ's mother, Mary, and Mary Magdalene, filled with grief, as they went to visit his tomb following the crucifixion.

Their grief, he said during the solemn ceremony, could be seen in the faces of many women today.

"In their faces we can see reflected all those who, walking the streets of our cities, feel the pain of dire poverty, the sorrow born of exploitation and human trafficking," he said.

"We can also see the faces of those who are greeted with contempt because they are immigrants, deprived of country, house and family. We see faces whose eyes bespeak loneliness and abandonment, because their hands are creased with wrinkles."

Pope Francis baptizes a child during a solemn Easter vigil ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, April 15, 2017.
Pope Francis baptizes a child during a solemn Easter vigil ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, April 15, 2017.

Serving the needy

Francis has used the period leading up to Easter to stress his vision of service to the neediest. On Good Friday, he lamented that many people had become inured to daily scenes of bombed cities and drowning migrants.

During Saturday's service, he baptized 11 people, most of them adult converts to Catholicism, from Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, the United States, Albania, Malta, Malaysia and China.

On Easter Sunday, the most important day in the Christian liturgical calendar, he will read his twice-annual "Urbi et Orbi" ("To the City and the World") message in St. Peter's Square.

Security has been tight for all of the pope's Holy Week activities following recent truck attacks against pedestrians in London and Stockholm.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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