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Pope Francis gives the Easter blessing “Urbi et Orbi” (file image)
© APA / AFP
On Easter Sunday, Pope Francis wants to celebrate one of the most important holidays of the ecclesiastical year for the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and then donate the “Urbi et Orbi” blessing. The head of the Catholic Church has to re-celebrate the celebrations under the conditions of the Crown. The crowds of pilgrims who came to the Vatican and the Italian capital Rome in the past stayed away again this year.
Before the pandemic, Mass on Easter Sunday was often celebrated in St. Peter’s Square with tens of thousands of people. For believing Christians, Easter is the most important holiday of the church year. Due to the crisis of the crown, the Vatican once again moved the service to St. Peter’s Basilica. Again, only a limited number of participants should be allowed to enter. In the religious services of the previous days there were mostly around 200 people.
A year earlier, in April 2020, when the pandemic in Italy was in full swing, Pope Francis had celebrated Easter Sunday Mass on Easter Sunday in an even more limited way with some concelebrants and religious sisters. The liturgy has been shortened a bit.
Back then, like this year, events had to be canceled or moved to other locations. For example, Francis could not pray the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday as he usually does in the Colosseum in Rome, but had to move to St. Peter’s Square. For the 84-year-old, who is considered someone who likes to be among the people, the big church holidays, Easter and Christmas in times of pandemic, are sobering. His closeness to the people was evident on his trip to Iraq, when he was able to once again celebrate a mass in front of thousands of people after a long time at the football stadium in the Kurdish capital, Erbil.
The second important element of Easter Sunday this year is the donation of the blessing “Urbi et Orbi” (For the city and the world) after the service. With this, the Pope exempts believers from the penalties for their sins if they have already extinguished them, for example, in confession or through prayers. In the past, believers could only receive indulgence in St. Peter’s Square. Over the years, this has also been made possible through radio (1967), television (1985), and the Internet (1995).
The blessing is usually in the Easter and Christmas program, and when a new Pope is elected. Last year, the pontiff also donated the blessing on an extraordinary occasion on March 27. The reason for this was the corona pandemic. At that time he called on Catholics to love their neighbor and recognize the true priorities of life.
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