Pope Francis presides over solemn Easter ceremony due to security concerns

Pope Francis on Saturday condemned how the poor, migrants and marginalized witness their “human dignity crucified” every day through corruption and injustices apart from urging the faithful in an Easter Vigil message to keep hope alive for a better future.

Francis presided over the solemn late-night ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica at a time of heightened security fears following a spate of Islamic-inspired attacks and tensions over Europe’s migrant influx.

Security was particularly tight, part of the heavier-than-usual safety measures that have been deployed around the world for Holy Week activities, particularly following the twin Palm Sunday attacks on Coptic churches in Egypt that killed at least 45 people.

Holding a single candle, Francis processed down the basilica’s center aisle, symbolizing the darkness that fell after Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday. When Francis reached the altar, the basilica’s floodlights turned on, symbolizing the light of Christ’s resurrection.

In his homily, Francis recalled the biblical scene of two women approaching Jesus’ tomb and said their desolation over his death can be seen every day in the faces of women whose children have been victims of poverty, exploitation and injustice.

“We can also see the faces of those who are greeted with contempt because they are immigrants, deprived of country, house and family,” he said. Others are victims of paralyzed bureaucracies and corruption “that strips them of their rights and shatters their dreams,” the pope said, echoing two themes he has emphasized in his four-year papacy: caring for migrants and denouncing corruption.

“In their grief, these two women reflect the faces of all those who, walking the streets of our cities, behold human dignity crucified.”But rather than remain resigned to such a fate, Francis urged the faithful to have hope, as symbolized by Christ’s resurrection.

He called for Catholics to “break down all the walls that keep us locked in our sterile pessimism, in our carefully constructed ivory towers that isolate us from life, in our compulsive need for security and in boundless ambition that can make us compromise the dignity of others.”

Saturday’s late-night service came just hours after Francis presided over the evocative torch-lit Good Friday procession at Rome’s Colosseum, where he repeatedly denounced the “shame” of the blood spilled by innocent children, women and migrants in the world’s conflicts, shipwrecks and other tragedies.

On Sunday, Francis will celebrate the joyful Easter Mass in a flower-filled St. Peter’s Square. Thousands of people are expected to brave street closures, metal detectors and other security measures to reach the square for the Mass.