After bleak week, Pope Francis offers Easter message

March 27, 2016 13:04

Pope Francis concluded a bleak week in Europe with a message of hope during an Easter Vigil service Saturday, saying darkness and fear must not prevail and "imprison" the world with pessimism.

Francis' call to hope on the eve of the most joyful celebration in the Christian calendar contrasted sharply with his sharp condemnation in recent days of the attacks in Belgium and elsewhere by Islamic extremists.

Francis entered the silent and darkened basilica with just a single candle guiding him at the start of the vigil. As he reached the altar, the basilica's floodlights flipped on in a symbolic show of light after the darkness of Good Friday, which recalls Jesus' death.

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