Pope's Easter Message Decries Persecution of Christians

Pope Francis celebrated Easter mass in a rainy St. Peter’s Square on Sunday in front of tens of thousands of the faithful.

He delivered his annual Easter message — “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) — where he spoke movingly of Christians being persecuted for their beliefs.

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Jerusalem Post:

Francis, after saying Mass for thousands of people in a rainy St. Peter’s Square, delivered a mostly sombre and grim “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message.

Attacks on Christians in Africa and the Middle East have been the grim backdrop of all Holy Week ceremonies leading up to Easter.

“We ask Jesus, the victor over death, to lighten the sufferings of our many brothers and sisters who are persecuted for his name, and of all those who suffer injustice as a result of ongoing conflicts and violence – and there are many,” he said.

The pope spoke as churches in Kenya, where al Shabaab gunmen massacred nearly 150 people, singling out Christians for point-blank executions, turned to armed guards to protect their congregations on the most important day of the Christian liturgical year.

“May constant prayer rise up from all people of goodwill for those who lost their lives – I think in particular of the young people who were killed last Thursday at Garissa University College in Kenya – for all who have been kidnapped, and for those forced to abandon their homes and their dear ones.”

The 78-year-old Argentine pope, celebrating the third Easter of his pontificate, spoke from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after saying a Mass below for tens of thousands of people wearing plastic ponchos and holding umbrellas against the driving rain.

Calling for peace in Libya, where last February Islamic State fighters beheaded 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians, the pope called for an end to “the present absurd bloodshed and all barbarous acts of violence”.

He prayed for peace in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria, where Boko Haram Islamist militants have also targeted Christian churches.

“We ask for peace and freedom for the many men and women subject to old and new forms of enslavement on the part of criminal individuals and groups,” he said.

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The pope’s words of sympathy are welcome, considering the fact that few western leaders say anything at all about the epidemic of violence directed by Muslims against Christians. In his sympathy call to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta following the massacre, President Obama apparently never mentioned that the victims were Christians and that this was the motive for targeting them.

Until the world acknowledges that innocent people are being killed because of their religious faith, the slaughter will go on with impunity and the true nature of Islamic extremism will be hidden.

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