Pope’s Easter message: hope in our darkest hour

In a nearly empty St Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis likens fears of current times to those felt by Jesus, as Christians adjust to a very different Easter.

Pope Francis delivers his homily during Easter's Holy Saturday Vigil held behind closed doors at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

Easter offers a message of hope in our darkest hour, Pope Francis has said as he celebrated a late-night vigil mass in a nearly empty St Peter’s Basilica. The pontiff likened the fears of current times to those experienced by Jesus’s followers the day after his crucifixion.

“They, like us, had before their eyes the drama of suffering, of an unexpected tragedy that happened all too suddenly,” Francis said during Saturday’s mass. “They had seen death and it weighed on their hearts. Pain was mixed with fear. Then, too, there was fear about the future and all that would need to be rebuilt.

“For them, as for us, it was the darkest hour.” Easter vigil Mass in the basilica is among the Vatican’s more evocative ceremonies. Celebrants enter in darkness, except for candlelight. The pontiff holds a tall Easter candle, which is lit for him, then the basilica’s lights are turned on, in a sign of joy.

Pope Francis stand by the "Salus populi romani" Byzantine icon of the Madonna and Christ Child, at the end of Easter's Holy Saturday Vigil.

But this night, when the basilica was illuminated, all its emptiness was painfully visible, and the footsteps of the Pope and his small entourage on the marble floor could clearly be heard as they walked in slow procession toward the altar.

Francis encouraged the faithful to sow “seeds of hope, with small gestures of care, affection of prayer”.

“Tonight we acquire a fundamental right that can never be taken away from us: the right to hope,” Francis said.

He acknowledged the difficulty of obtaining optimism, saying “as the days go by and fears grow, even the boldest hope can dissipate”.

Describing the Easter message as a “message of hope”, Francis urged Christians to be “messengers of life in a time of death”.

During Easter vigil Mass, adults converting to Catholicism are baptised by the Pope, but the pandemic containment measures meant that did not go ahead this year.

Australian Christians adapt to Easter in a pandemic

Easter is a starkly different one today for Christians, who are adapting to celebrate their most important festival amidst social distancing restrictions. Instead of bustling church attendance, worship bands and communal meals, many will sit in front of a screen at home to quietly remember a momentous gathering about 2000 years ago.

On the first Easter, Jesus’ 12 disciples were huddled in fear and sadness after seeing their leader killed on a cross.

At this gathering, the bible says the resurrected Jesus appeared to the disciples. Christians believe Jesus died for the sins of the world and rose to defeat death, giving hope for a new life with God.

In Melbourne’s inner north, Merri Creek Anglican church pastor Peter Carolane will sit in his living room and deliver an Easter message via Facebook Live. While in-person church gatherings offer formality and structure Reverend Carolane has chosen a different style on camera.

“We’ve tried to tone down the energy levels to try to make it more intimate,” Rev Carolane said.

With religious services and congregations banned due to COVID-19 restrictions, churches are adapting their services to connect with parishioners online through email, website, live streaming and service pre-recordings.

He has upped his technology skills in the last few weeks to improve his offering, such as skyping other people into the stream and adding pre-recorded video.

Some church members will video conference in small groups for morning tea afterwards.

Rev Carolane was encouraged by a large online audience on Good Friday, including those who are not ordinarily church-goers.

“I feel like, as people are realising they’re not in control of their own lives like they thought they were, and western liberal democracies have not got all the answers, that people are thinking about what really matters in a new kind of way,” he said.

Not all church leaders have found it easy to adapt.

An empty altar at St Paul’s Anglican Church in Burwood.

Anglican parish priest Steve Weickhardt in Port Lincoln, South Australia said he felt a “really deep grief” about Easter this year.

“Easter day is a real blow,” he said. “That’s our DNA.” He will not provide an online service for his 40 elderly congregants, but has pointed them to online services run by other churches.

Instead he will ring the church bell at 9am and they will know he is sitting down to pray for them.

Catholics in the Sandhurst diocese of regional Victoria will be able to tune in online to a service livestreamed out of a church building.

Chair of the Bendigo Interfaith Council and retired priest Monsignor Frank Marriot said the viewing numbers of online mass so far had been pleasing. At 82, Monsignor Marriott said he’d done well to navigate the Zoom video conferencing program for church meetings.

In his Easter message on Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Christians should live out their faith by abiding by social distancing restrictions and looking after their community and loved ones.

AP and AAP