Like other faith communities throughout the world responding to the COVID-19 lockdowns, Pope Francis celebrated a unique Easter service last week at the Vatican in Rome.
On Easter Sunday for Western Christians, tens of millions of Roman Catholics followed along via Internet, national television networks in predominantly Catholic nations and thousands of radio stations worldwide.
In accordance with strict Italian laws prohibiting the gathering of people and restricting citizens’ movement, the Pope celebrated the mass in an empty St. Peter’s Basilica.
In addition to the traditional practice of proclaiming the Gospel of the Resurrection in Latin, the official language of the Roman Catholic Church, the Gospel was also shared in Greek.
Italy has been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic with more than 172,000 confirmed cases and 22,000 deaths at the time of this article’s publication. The entire nation remains in government-imposed lockdown.
