|
| Pope Francis delivers the Urbi et Orbi (to the city and to the world) blessing at the end of the Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican , Sunday, April 5, 2015. |
VATICAN CITY
(AP) -- In an Easter peace wish, Pope Francis on Sunday praised the
framework nuclear agreement with Iran as an opportunity to make the
world safer, while expressing deep worry about bloodshed in Libya,
Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa.
Cautious
hope ran through Francis' `'Urbi et Orbi" Easter message, a kind of
papal commentary on the state of the world's affairs, which he delivered
from the central balcony of St. Peter's Square.
He
had just celebrated Mass in rain-whipped St. Peter's Square for tens of
thousands of people, who huddled under umbrellas or braved the downpour
in thin, plastic rain-slickers.
Easter day is
`'so beautiful, and so ugly because of the rain," Francis said after
Mass about Christianity's most important feast day. He expressed thanks
for the flowers which bedecked the square and which were donated by the
Netherlands, but the bright hues of the azaleas and other blossoms
seemed muted by the gray skies.
Francis made
his first public comments about the recent framework for an accord,
reached in Lausanne, Switzerland, and aimed at ensuring Iran doesn't
develop a nuclear weapon.
`'In hope we entrust
to the merciful Lord the framework recently agreed to in Lausanne, that
it may be a definitive step toward a more secure and fraternal world."
Decrying
the plentitude of weapons in the world in general, Francis said: `'And
we ask for peace for this world subjected to arms dealers, who earn
their living with the blood of men and women."
He
denounced "absurd bloodshed and all barbarous acts of violence" in
Libya, convulsed by fighting fueled by tribal and militia rivalries. He
hoped `'a common desire for peace" would prevail in Yemen, wracked by
civil warfare.
Francis prayed that the `'roar
of arms may cease" in Syria and Iraq, and that peace would come in
Africa for Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan and Congo.
He
recalled the young people, many of them targeted because they were
Christians, killed last week in a Kenyan university, and lamented
kidnappings, by Islamic extremists, that have plagued parts of Africa,
including Nigeria.
He also cited bloodshed
closer to home, in Ukraine, praying that the Eastern European nation
would `'rediscover peace and hope thanks to the commitment of all
interested parties." Government forces have been battling Russian-backed
rebels in eastern Ukraine, months after a cease-fire was proclaimed
following international diplomatic efforts.
On
Good Friday, Francis chastised the international community for what he
called the complicit silence about the killing of Christians. On Easter
he prayed that God would alleviate `'the suffering of so many of our
brothers persecuted because of his name."
During
Mass, Francis was shielded from pelting rain by a canopy erected
outside St. Peter's Basilica, while prelates carried umbrellas in the
yellow and white colors of the Vatican.
The
downpour petered out to a drizzle, and by the end of the ceremony, the
rain had stopped. Francis, wearing a white overcoat, was driven through
the square in the open-sided popemobile so he could wave to the
faithful.
