With reverence and fervor, Catholics across the planet celebrate Easter, with Pope Francis sending a message of Peace, at the established Easter Vigil in the Vatican, which was flooded with believers.

St. Peter’s Square is crowded.

In celebration of Pope Francis, Catholics celebrate Easter and the resurrection of the God-man.

During the Easter vigil, Pope Francis followed tradition by baptizing eight new converts.

In his sermon he urged Christians to keep their faith even when they are weighed down by fear.

“They hold us back in trying to build more just and humane cities and societies, and all our hopes for peace are shattered by hatred and the brutality of war,” he said.

The Easter Liturgy at the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City of Jerusalem was celebrated with great pomp and ceremony.

The hymns, the resurrection hymns and the service of the Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzabelma, in the holiest place of the Christian world, cause shivers of emotion.

With the Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza, tight security measures have significantly limited the attendance of worshipers this year.

In Ukraine, Catholics celebrated Easter for the third time, being in a state of war.

The Easter vigil was held at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Kyiv with the faithful in their prayers expressing their hopes for peace.

All we hope for is for Europe and the rest of the world to help us, including Christendom. I ask everyone to pray for us.

In Sydney, throngs of worshipers gathered at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in the city centre. After the Easter service, meals were offered to the city’s homeless.

In the city of Antipolo in the Philippines, the celebration of Easter culminates with an overwhelming ritual and the participation of thousands of worshipers.

It symbolizes the meeting of the Virgin Mary with Jesus Christ. All of us Catholics in the Philippines believe that they met one more time after the Crucifixion.

The procession of the Icon of the Sorrowful Mother Mary meets that of the Risen Jesus.

In the Christian city of Karakos in northern Iraq, believers celebrate the day of joy, marking the resurrection, the victory of life over death.

“We hope in this joyful celebration, in this Easter from God and his will to bring about a change in the minds of the leaders and those in power,” says a Catholic from Iraq.

Iraq’s Christian population, which has been hit hard by Islamic State attacks, is trying to rebuild its communities.

Forming a huge cross with lanterns and candles in a square in the center of Yerevan, Armenians celebrated Easter with crowds of people taking part in a procession through the country’s capital.

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