All the papal services are attended this year by about 200 people in the secondary altar of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Francis would deliver his traditional ‘Urbi et Orbi’ (‘To the City and the World’) message at 12 o’clock local time (6 o’clock ET).
Easter Sunday is the most important day in the Christian liturgical calendar and is the day on which Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead after being crucified on Good Friday.
Usually up to 10,000 members of the believers fill St. Peter’s Square. This year, Francis will deliver the blessing from the altar of the basilica to prevent worshipers from crowding into the piazza.
Francis said during an Easter vigil on Saturday that he hoped the dark times of the pandemic would end and that people could rediscover the “grace of everyday life”.
And on Good Friday, he hugged and greeted children who attended a special Stations of the Cross ceremony at the Vatican.
The pope’s travel is severely limited due to the pandemic, but he traveled to Iraq last month for the first ever papal visit to the country.
Saturday’s worship service started two hours earlier than usual, so that participants could return home before Rome’s evening clock at 22:00.