Pope Benedict XVI celebrates first Easter ceremony (Roundup)

Apr 15, 2006, 23:24 GMT

Rome - Pope Benedict XVI early Sunday celebrated his first early morning Easter service as head of the Catholic church with the traditional vigil in St Peter's Basilica.

Benedict, who turns 79 years old on Easter day, lit the traditional Easter candle during the night-long vigil. The flaming light was then carried into the basilica as a symbol for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the central tenet of Christian belief.

'This is the joy of Easter night. The resurrection has not left us, the resurrection is reaching for us, and has encompassed us. We believe in the resurrected Lord, and we know: He holds us fast, when our hands become too weak,' the church leader said in his sermon.

Later Sunday, the pope is due to celebrate his first Easter mass with the traditional Easter blessing 'Urbi et Orbi' - 'to the city and the world' - which offers the absolution of all sins, according to Catholic doctrine.

He is expected to call for peace in Israel and for a concerted push by the international community to help the Palestinian people along the path to their own state, the Italian news agency Ansa reported. He may also refer to the tensely divided political situation after Italy's parliamentary elections.

Tourists and pilgrims continued to arrive in the Vatican to join the Easter celebrations.

Accompanied by tens of thousands of people, the pope Friday headed the Good Friday procession near the illuminated Coliseum, marking the 14 stations of Christ's suffering, with Benedict XVI carrying the cross at the first and the last station.

Besides the traditional prayers, the ceremony included meditations composed by Vicar General for Rome and Archbishop Angelo Comastri, which deplored poverty and hunger as well as the decline of family values across the world.

The German-born pontiff also reminded the congregation of the memory of his predecessor John Paul II, who had been unable to celebrate Easter last year as he was approaching his death on April 2, 2005.