Pope: "World wounded by wars". Vigil for peace announced on 11 April

"Today the whole of creation shines with new light, a song of praise rises from the earth, our hearts exult with joy: Christ has risen from the dead and, with Him, we too rise to new life!" This is how Pope Leo XIV began his homily at the Easter Mass he presided over on the parvis of St Peter's Basilica.

This was reported by the Vatican media. A churchyard adorned with thousands of flowers and plants grown in the Netherlands. This year marks the 40th anniversary since the Netherlands first offered the floral gift to the Pope at Easter.

The initiative was promoted from the very beginning by volunteers from the sector, supported by the Dutch Bishops' Conference and the Foundation 'Bloemenpracht Rome'. The following were used for the installation: 65,000 bulbs of tulips, daffodils and hyacinths and mini daffodils; 220 white and orange violets; 7,800 flowers, including roses, delphiniums, anthuriums, chrysanthemums, gerberas, mathiolas; 600 plumosa branches; 80 azaleas and 600 long willow catkins, long Eucalyptus branches, and various types of greenery.

"Death is always lurking," continued Pope Leo during his homily, "We see it present in injustice, in partisan selfishness, in the oppression of the poor, in the lack of attention to the most fragile. We see it in the violence, in the wounds of the world, in the cry of pain that rises from all sides for the abuses that crush the weakest, for the idolatry of profit that plunders the earth's resources, for the violence of war that kills and destroys".

But "the Lord is alive and remains with us. Through cracks of resurrection that make space in the darkness, He delivers our hearts to hope".