Pope Benedict XVI's Easter 'Urbi et Orbi' message and blessing

(March 23, 2008) Pope Benedict XVI ushered in the Easter season with a vigil Mass Saturday night in St. Peter’s Basilica. He rested a few hours, only to be up again for Easter Sunday Mass in the morning in St. Peter’s Square. The wind and rain that has whipped most of Europe did not spare Rome as the German pontiff, wearing white and gold vestments, said Mass under a canopy while a large crowd braved a driving rain with their umbrellas. After Mass he delivered his Easter Urbi et Orbi message and blessing and also greeted the world in various languages. The Pope delivers the “Urbi et Orbi” blessing and message twice a year – once at Christmas and the other at Easter. The Pope’s Easter Sunday Mass was telecast live in 30 countries, whereas the Urbi et Orbi Easter message and blessing was beamed live to 41 countries.
“I have risen, I am still with you. Alleluia!” the Pope exclaimed, repeating the words of Psalm 138 which was sung at the start of Easter Sunday Mass. Building his Urbi et Orbi message around these words, the Holy Father invited Christians worldwide to welcome and contemplate this joyful proclamation which Jesus, crucified and risen, repeats to us today. In these words, with the dawning of the Easter sun, the Pope said, the Church recognizes the voice of Jesus himself who, on rising from death, turns to the Father filled with gladness and love, and exclaims: My Father, here I am! I have risen, I am still with you, and so I shall be for ever; your Spirit never abandoned me.
The death and resurrection of the Word of God incarnate, the Pope said, has changed the course of history, giving to human life an indestructible and renewed meaning and value. With his redeeming sacrifice, Jesus of Nazareth has made us adopted children of God, so that we too can now take our place in the mysterious dialogue between him and the Father. Through the death and resurrection of Christ, we too rise to new life today, and uniting our voice with his, we proclaim that we wish to remain for ever with God, our infinitely good and merciful Father. In this way we enter the depths of the Paschal mystery.
Pope Benedict appealed to all Christians around the world who are sincerely open to truth, not to allow their hearts be closed to the omnipotence of this redeeming love! Jesus Christ died and rose for all; he is our hope – true hope for every human being. Today, just as he did with his disciples in Galilee before returning to the Father, the risen Jesus now sends us everywhere as witnesses of his hope, and he reassures us: I am with you always, all days, until the end of the world.
Pope Benedict recalled how often relations between individuals, between groups and between peoples are marked not by love but by selfishness, injustice, hatred and violence! These, he said, are the scourges of humanity, open and festering in every corner of the planet, although they are often ignored and sometimes deliberately concealed; wounds that torture the souls and bodies of countless of our brothers and sisters. They are waiting to be nursed and healed by the glorious wounds of our Risen Lord and by the solidarity of people who, following in his footsteps, perform deeds of charity in his name, make an active commitment to justice, and spread luminous signs of hope in areas bloodied by conflict and wherever the dignity of the human person continues to be scorned and trampled. It is hoped that these are precisely the places where gestures of moderation and forgiveness will increase!
The Holy Father urged that the light of Christ’s Resurrection shine forth in every part of the world, particularly in certain African regions, such as Dafur and Somalia, the tormented Middle East, especially the Holy Land, Iraq, Lebanon, and finally Tibet, all of whom the Pope encouraged to seek solutions that will safeguard peace and the common good! Pope Benedict concluded his Urbi et Orbi Easter message invoking the intercession of Mary who, after sharing the sufferings of the passion and crucifixion of her innocent Son, also experienced the inexpressible joy of his resurrection.
At the end of his Easter message, Pope Benedict XVI delivered Easter greetings in 63 languages of the world, including in Latin, the Vatican’s official language. Among them were some 15 Asian languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, Burmese, Urdu, Sinhala. Listen to his greetings, beginning with English:

At the end of his greetings in various languages, the Pope imparted his special Easter blessing Urbi et Orbi. A cardinal announced that all those present in St. Peter’s Square and those following the event on television and radio around the world could obtain a plenary indulgence according to rules established by the Church. According to Catholic teaching, every sin entails a punishment even after it is forgiven through the sacrament of penance. A plenary indulgence means that by the merits of Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, the full remission of the temporal punishment is obtained. The normal requirements set by the church for all plenary indulgences are: that within a reasonably short period of time, the person goes to confession, receives the Eucharist and prays for the intentions of the Pope, all in a spirit of total detachment from the attraction of sin. Those receiving the Pope’s Easter Blessing could obtain a plenary indulgence. Listen:
Earlier Saturday night, Pope Benedict ushered in the Easter season with a Vigil Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. The German-born pontiff, marking the third Easter season of his pontificate, began the service in the atrium of a darkened St Peter's Basilica where he carved the Greek letters Alpha and Omega on a large candle. The basilica became a sea of flickering flames as thousands of faithful inside lit candles before the lights were turned on in a ritual symbolising the darkness in the world after Christ's death and the light of the resurrection. About 30 cardinals celebrated the mass with Pope Benedict, who appeared on the third day since the Easter triduum began on Holy Thursday.
The Pope traditionally baptizes newborn babies on the feast of the Baptism of Jesus in January. But adult converts to Catholicism are baptized by him during the Easter vigil Mass. This time 7 adults, 5 women and two men, from Italy, Cameroun, China, the United States, and Peru were administered Baptism. Prominent among them was Magdi Allam, a 55-year old Egyptian-born journalist who, as deputy director of the leading newspaper Corriere della Sera, is one of Italy's best-known intellectuals.
In his sermon, Pope Benedict wove a connection between the resurrection of Christ and the sacrament of baptism, the initiation rite of Christianity. When at the Last Supper Jesus said, “I go away, and I will come to you,” the Pope said he was announcing his imminent death and resurrection to his disciples. His Cross, his going away, his dying like the grain of wheat…is transformed into the coming of the Risen Lord’s universal manner of presence, in which he is there yesterday, today and for ever, in which he embraces all times and all places. "...from the abyss of death he was able to rise to life. Now he raises us from death to true life. This is exactly what happens in baptism," the Pope said, adding, “Through Baptism, the Lord enters into the heart of the new Catholic.”
"People who are baptised and believers are never strangers to each other," the Pope said in his homily. "Continents, cultures, social structures and historical distances cannot separate us. "But we meet each other, we know each other by the same Lord, the same faith, the same hope, and the same love that shapes us." “Thus faith is a force for peace and reconciliation in the world: distances between people are overcome, in the Lord we have become close.”