VATICAN CITY (HRNW) – Pope Francis broke with centuries of tradition to livestream Easter Sunday mass to those suffering in the solitude of a coronavirus lockdown that forced the world s Catholics to improvise on their holiest day.
The 83-year-old pontiff spoke to the world s 1.3 billion Catholics from a hauntingly empty Saint Paul s Cathedral at a ceremony attended by just a handful of priests and a small choir that was spaced out across the marble floor.
The pandemic raging outsides the Vatican s locked gates has killed more than 109,000 people and left billions confined to their homes.
The pope s message was livestreamed for the first time — a bow to technology in the face of a new illness that has changed the shape of society and altered the way religion is observed.
“For many, this is an Easter of solitude lived amid the sorrow and hardship that the pandemic is causing, from physical suffering to economic difficulties,” the pope said quietly.
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