Thiruvananthapuram: Commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Easter was celebrated with religious fervour across Kerala on Sunday. Special midnight services and prayers were held at churches of various denominations, as there were massive turnout of believers after a few years of services with restrictions due to the pandemic.

At the Mount St Thomas Church in Ernakulam, Syro Malabar Major Archbishop Cardinal Mar George Alencherry led the prayers. A special procession was also held at the church.

At St Mary's Church, Pattom, in Thiruvananthapuram, Major Archbishop Mar Baselios Cleemis helmed the service and delivered the Easter special message. At St Joseph's Cathedral in Palayam, Archbishop Dr Thomas J Netto led prayers. Zacharias Mar Aprem, Metropolitan of the Adoor-Kadambanad diocese of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, led the prayers at Parumala.

Pope Francis encourages hope amid 'icy winds of war'
Pope Francis led the world's Roman Catholics into Easter at a Saturday night vigil Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, decrying the "icy winds of war" and other injustices.

The 86-year-old Pope skipped an outdoor event on Friday night because of unseasonably cold temperatures in Rome. His doctors ordered prudence after he was hospitalised last week for bronchitis.

He appeared to be well during the Easter Vigil service, during which he baptised eight adult converts to Catholicism.

After starting the service in the rear of the church with the traditional lighting of a large paschal candle, he was taken in a wheelchair to the front to preside at the Mass.

In his homily, read before about 8,000 people in Christendom's largest church, the Pope spoke of the bitterness, dismay and disillusionment many feel today.

"We may feel helpless and discouraged before the power of evil, the conflicts that tear relationships apart, the attitudes of calculation and indifference that seem to prevail in society, the cancer of corruption, the spread of injustice, the icy winds of war," he said.

He has called for an end to all wars, and since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, 2022, he has repeatedly referred to Ukraine and its people as being "martyred".

Reading his homily in a strong and confident voice, the Pope said that even when people felt the wellspring of hope had dried up, it was important not to be frozen in a sense of defeat but to seek an "interior resurrection" with God's help.

(With inputs from Reuters)