Saint Joseph Catholic Church

The bishop of El-Obeid, Sudan, said that Christians there are experiencing a “real passion” amid the Sudanese civil war.

The Easter Vigil was celebrated in the cathedral in Loikaw, Myanmar, for the first time in three years.

Pope Leo XIV today contrasted the reactions of the guards at Christ’s tomb, who spread the “fake news” that Christ’s body had been stolen, with the reaction of the women at the tomb, who spread the Good News of the Resurrection. This Good News, the Pope said, needs to “reach, above all, those oppressed by the evil that corrupts history and confuses consciences.”

Amid attacks from Iran and rising Shiite Islamic fundamentalism within Iraq, churches in northern Iraq, from Mosul to Erbil, cancelled outdoor processions during Holy Week, the Vatican newspaper reported.

Pope Leo XIV celebrated the Easter Vigil Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica tonight (booklet, video) and called on the faithful to “bring everyone the good news that Jesus is risen.”

Pope Leo XIV proclaimed his Easter message urbi et orbi (to the city and the world) from the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica at midday today (video). The Pontiff reflected on Christ’s Resurrection, lamented indifference to violence and the “deaths of thousands of people,” and called on the faithful to “implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars.”