Easter commemorates the day Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead
What is Easter?
Easter is a Christian festival to celebrate the resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ from the tomb on the third day after his crucifixion.
It is the oldest and the most important festival of the Christian church.
Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon in northern spring equinox, generally between March 21 to April 25.
The 'Holy Week'
Easter is celebrated to mark 'victory over sin'.
The week before Easter is celebrated as 'Holy Week' or 'Passion Week'.
The first day of the week is observed as 'Palm Sunday' to celebrate the entry of Jesus in Jerusalem.
The second celebration of the week comes on Thursday with the 'Maundy Thursday', the day on which Jesus last met his disciples over the 'Last Supper' to observe his Passover.
Passion Week finally concludes with the 'Good Friday' which marks the Crucifixion of Jesus.
In this period before Easter Christians even practise fasting called 'Lent', to set aside some time for remembrance and repentance.
Pope Francis urges the faithful to live 'not to transient things but for God'
Pope Francis led the world's Roman Catholics into Easter at a vigil Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on Saturday night, urging the faithful to live not for transient things like wealth and success but for God.
The largest church in Christendom was dark at the start of the long service as the pope carved into a candle the numbers of the year 2019 and the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet - Alpha and Omega - signifying that God is the beginning and end of all things.
Francis marked his seventh Easter season as pope
Pope Francis, marking his seventh Easter season as pope, wove his homily around the Bible account of the women who went to Jesus' tomb only to find it empty and the large stone that had sealed it had been cast away.
'God takes away even the hardest stones against which our hopes and expectations crash: death, sin, fear, worldliness,' he said.
Pope Francis welcomed eight adult converts into the Church
'There is another stone that often seals the heart shut: the stone of sin. Sin seduces; it promises things easy and quick, prosperity and success, but then leaves behind only solitude and death. Sin is looking for life among the dead, for the meaning of life in things that pass away,' he said.
During the Mass, Francis welcomed eight adult converts into the Church, conferring on them the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. They were from Italy, Albania, Ecuador, Indonesia and Peru.
On Sunday, the 82-year-old leader of the world's 1.3 billion Roman Catholics is due to say a Mass in St. Peter's Square and read the traditional 'Urbi et Orbi' (To The City and The World) message.
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