Pope Francis made a brief appearance for Easter Sunday blessing at the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square, as the 88-year-old pontiff recovers from a serious bout of double pneumonia that led to an extended stay in the hospital.
The pope had been expected to deliver the ‘Urbi et Orbi’ blessing from a balcony, but that role was passed to another cardinal.
Francis had delegated the reading of his Easter Mass to Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the retired archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Ahead of Sunday’s event, the Vatican’s press service said that Pope Francis would likely be present at the open-air service but that his participation would depend on his health.

The Easter Mass commemorates the Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
An hour after Cardinal Comastri presided over the Mass in front of tens of thousands of Catholic Church followers, Francis appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to the delight of the crowd.

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Francis, the leader of the world’s more than 1.4 billion Catholics, missed most of the Holy Week events for the first time since his election in 2013.
He delegated his duties at Friday’s Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum and Saturday’s Easter vigil at Saint Peter’s Basilica to cardinals.
He also missed the traditional foot-washing ritual on Thursday, which is meant to imitate Jesus Christ washing his disciples’ feet.

The pontiff had left Rome’s Gemelli Hospital four weeks ago after spending more than a month in the hospital, but doctors say he still needs more time to recover following his life-threatening illness.
The pope’s voice remains weak, but he has appeared in public twice over the last week without the nasal cannula that delivered oxygen, signifying an improvement in breathing.

Jubilee Year 

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The Easter festival holds even more significance this year because the Catholic Church has declared 2025 a Jubilee or holy year, when pilgrims are encouraged to travel to Rome and pass through the doors of the four major basilicas — St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls, and St. Mary Major.
Tens of thousands of Catholics have gathered in Rome for Easter mass during this special jubilee year, which takes place every 25 years and sees millions of pilgrims descend on the city.

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The jubilee year kicked off with the Pope opening the usually bricked-up Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica on 24 December. Catholics believe passing through the door will relieve them of their sins.

As per estimates, there are 1 million visitors in the city this weekend.

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US VP J D Vance meets pope

US Vice President JD Vance, who converted to the Catholic faith in 2019, is also in the Vatican to attend Easter Mass with his family.
Vance briefly met with Francis on Sunday at the Domus Santa Marta to exchange Easter greetings, the Vatican said.



The vice president held talks on Saturday with the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
“The meeting, which lasted a few minutes, gave the opportunity to exchange greetings on Easter Sunday,” wrote the Vatican in a brief statement, saying the encounter took place at the pope’s residence shortly before 11:30 local time (930 GMT).
The meeting followed a spat between Francis and the Trump administration over its efforts to deport undocumented migrants en masse from the US.