Pave Frans holdt etter messen en påskepreken på Petersplassen (på 10-11 minutter) og deretter ga han den høytidelige velsignelsen (ca 13 min ut i videoen) – men ingen påskehilsen på de tradisjonelle 65 språk (eller mer).
Han snakket bare på italiensk (velsignelsen på latin), men en oversettelse av hele prekenen kan leses her – og den begynte slik:
Dear brothers and sisters in Rome and throughout the world, Happy Easter! Happy Easter!
What a joy it is for me to announce this message: Christ is risen! I would like it to go out to every house and every family, especially where the suffering is greatest, in hospitals, in prisons…
Most of all, I would like it to enter every heart, for it is there that God wants to sow this Good News: Jesus is risen, there is hope for you, you are no longer in the power of sin, of evil! Love has triumphed, mercy has been victorious! The mercy of God always triumphs!
We too, like the women who were Jesus’ disciples, who went to the tomb and found it empty, may wonder what this event means (cf. Lk 24:4). What does it mean that Jesus is risen? It means that the love of God is stronger than evil and death itself; it means that the love of God can transform our lives and let those desert places in our hearts bloom. The love God can do this!
This same love for which the Son of God became man and followed the way of humility and self-giving to the very end, down to hell – to the abyss of separation from God – this same merciful love has flooded with light the dead body of Jesus, has transfigured it, has made it pass into eternal life. Jesus did not return to his former life, to earthly life, but entered into the glorious life of God and he entered there with our humanity, opening us to a future of hope. …. ….