For his traditional Easter message,  Pope Francis judged this Sunday “scandalous” the continuation of wars and the arms race in the context of the pandemic, and urged the international community to share the vaccines against the Covid-19 with the poorest countries.

The sovereign dedicated his paschal address, preceding the Urbi et Orbi blessing (to the city of Rome and to the rest of the world), to the most vulnerable, the sick suffering from Covid-19, migrants, people thrown into precariousness by the pandemic, and the populations victims of the wars in Syria, Yemen, Libya and Africa. “The pandemic is still ongoing; the social and economic crisis is very serious, in particular for the poorest; despite this – and this is scandalous – armed conflicts do not cease and military arsenals are being reinforced, ”he lambasted.

The Sovereign Pontiff called for “to put an end to the clash of arms in beloved and martyred Syria, where millions of people now live in inhuman conditions, as well as in Yemen whose events are surrounded by deafening silence and scandalous, and in Libya where we can finally see the end of a decade of disputes and bloody clashes ”.

“Path of pacification” in Iraq

He also spoke of those who in Burma, the scene of a coup d’état and demonstrations bloodily suppressed by the military, “are committed to democracy by making their voices heard peacefully”. The international community must come to the aid of the “Lebanese people who are going through a period of difficulties and uncertainties”, he urged, hoping that “Israelis and Palestinians will find the strength of dialogue to reach a stable solution”.

The Pope also praised “the path of pacification undertaken” in Iraq,  where he went in March  – the Argentina’s first trip since November 2019 -. In terms of bad news, he blasted “internal violence and international terrorism” in the Sahel and Nigeria, and called for the release of prisoners in the conflicts in Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh.

VIDEO. In Iraq, Pope Francis came to comfort one of the oldest Christian communities in the world

He delivered his homily from the sparse pews of St. Peter’s Basilica, while Easter celebrations usually attract tens of thousands of pilgrims to the Vatican. Italy, on this sunny holy weekend, returned to containment to avoid popular and family gatherings in a country already hard hit by the pandemic which has killed more than 110,000 people there.

READ ALSO>  Uncontrollable, authoritarian… radical? The Seven Sins of Pope Francis