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| Pope Francis delivers the Urbi et Orbi (to the city and to the world) blessing at the end of his first Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Sunday, March 31, 2013. Pope Francis celebrated his first Easter Sunday Mass as pontiff in St. Peter's Square, packed by joyous pilgrims, tourists and Romans and bedecked by spring flowers. Wearing cream-colored vestments, Francis strode onto the esplanade in front of St. Peter's Basilica and took his place at an altar set up under a white canopy. |
On Easter Sunday, the
most holy day of the Christian calendar, believers attended religious
services - whether among the packed crowds before a new pope in St.
Peter's Square, at sunrise services in India and Pakistan, or at
churches flanked by blast walls and security cordons in Iraq.
