Pope Francis prays for both Ukrainian and Russian people at Easter Mass

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In an Easter message highlighting hope, Pope Francis on Sunday invoked prayers for both the Ukrainian and Russian people, and praised nations which welcome refugees.

He celebrated Easter Mass in a flower-adorned St. Peter’s Square, affirming the Christian belief that Jesus rose from the dead days after his crucifixion.

The 86-year-old pontiff topped the celebration with a traditional speech about troubled places in the world.

Encouraging “trust among individuals, peoples and nations," Francis said Easter's joy “illumines the darkness and gloom in which, all too often, our world finds itself enveloped.”

Call for a climate of trust

The pope's Easter message is known by its Latin name, Urbi et Orbi, which means “to the city and the world.”

Ukrainian diplomats have complained that he hasn't come down hard enough in his statements on Russia and particularly Russian President Vladimir Putin, as the Vatican tries to avoid alienating Moscow.

“Help the beloved Ukrainian people on their journey towards peace, and shed the light of Easter upon the people of Russia," Francis implored God in his Easter speech, which he delivered while sitting in a chair on the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica facing the square.

Francis also prayed for those who lost loved ones in an earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey two months ago, claiming tens of thousands of lives.

With a renewal in deadly violence affecting both Israelis and Palestinians in recent days, Francis called for a "resumption of dialogue, in a climate of trust and reciprocal respect, between Israelis and Palestinians, so that peace may reign in the Holy City and in the entire region," a reference to Jerusalem.

Progress on some fronts

But Francis also noted progress on some fronts.

“Let us rejoice at the concrete signs of hope that reach us from so many countries, beginning with those that offer assistance and welcome to all fleeing war and poverty," he said, without naming any particular nations.

How to care for asylum-seekers, migrants and refugees, and whether to allow them entrance, is a raging political and social debate in much of Europe, as well in the United States and elsewhere.

Francis also prayed that national leaders “ensure that no man or woman may encounter discrimination” and that there would be “full respect for human rights and democracy.”

The pope included Lebanon and two African countries he visited this year - South Sudan and Congo - among the nations in need of ending divisions and building reconciliation.

Speaking about Haiti, he appealed to “political actors and the international community to seek a definitive solution to the many problems that afflict that sorely tried people.”

The bloody conflicts cited by Francis contrasted with a riot of bright colours lent by orange-red tulips, yellow sprays of forsythia and daffodils, hyacinths and other colourful seasonal flowers that decorated St. Peter's Square. The blooms were trucked in trucks from the Netherlands.

Francis appears to run out of steam

By the end of the pope's appearance, some 100,00 people had flocked to the square in time for the pontiff's speech, according to the Vatican's crowd count.

A canopy on the edge of steps on the square sheltered the pontiff, who was back in the public eye for the Mass 12 hours after a 2.25-hour long Easter vigil ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica the night before.

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Francis was hospitalized between March 29 and April 1 for treatment of bronchitis. Still recovering, he skipped the traditional Good Friday procession at Rome’s Colosseum due to unseasonably cold nighttime temperatures.

Near the end of the more than two-hour-long Easter Sunday appearance, Francis seemed to run out of steam. His voice grew hoarse and he interrupted his speech at one point to cough.

He nonetheless made several laps through the square in the popemobile after the Mass, waving and smiling at cheering well-wishers.