India

In his Urbi et Orbi message, Francis cited conflicts and tensions in the world, from the Middle East and Africa to the Americas. "Christ is alive and he remains with us. Risen, he shows us the light of his face, and he does not abandon all those experiencing hardship, pain and sorrow."

During the "mother of all vigils", Francis says that Easter is "the feast of tombstones taken away, rocks rolled aside. God takes away even the hardest stones against which our hopes and expectations crash: death, sin, fear, worldliness."

The "new crosses of today" at the center of the meditations, first of all migrants and exploited women and children. Francis prays for "the people who do not have the comfort of faith", "the consecrated who, along the way, have forgotten their first love", "the Church, your bride, who feels continually assailed from within and from without. "

Fr. Vineeth George, 38, is from the Claretian Congregation. With a brilliant career already started, he abandoned everything and chose the priesthood to serve the least. He was involved in the education of tribal children.

Francis celebrated the ‘in coena Domini’ Mass in a prison in Velletri washing the feet of 12 inmates. "It is true that in life there are problems: we quarrel among ourselves . . . but this must be a thing that passes, a passing thing, because in our hearts there must always be the love to serve others, of being in the service of others."

The government pledged to create ten million new jobs and build five million houses. With a 4 per cent growth rate, poverty will not be tackled, nor will per capita income increase by much. The government is negotiating a bailout with the International Monetary Fund. Terrorism is driving investors away.

Francis celebrates the Chrism Mass, which precedes the beginning of the Easter Triduum. To the priests Francis proposes faces of the "crowd" that surrounds, follows, admires Jesus. "In the soul of the people the desire to follow Jesus is awakened, arousing admiration, discernment".

The court accepted a petition presented by a Muslim couple. The Qurʾān does not speak of separation between men and women in places of worship. In some cases, women have access to a space through a secondary entrance, but in most they pray at home.

Two months after the signing of the important document on "Human Fraternity", the "House of the Abrahamic family" and a fund to finance cultural activities on coexistence were founded. The search for a tolerant Islam, which avoids Wahhabism and Western liberalism. The pontiff has aroused much curiosity among Muslims. But there are still situations of violence and humiliation towards Christian workers.

About 155 million citizens go to the polls in 12 states. The biggest challenges are among the large local parties in Tamil Nadu, Karnata and West Bengal. Today is Holy Thursday and the bishops had asked not to hold the votes in conjunction with the Christian holiday.

Over the past five days one church was attacked and another re-opened following the order of a High Court. The Indian state is the most dangerous for Christians. For one activist, some “people think that they can do anything in the name of religion and get away with it without consequences."

During Holy Week, by praying "the Our Father, we can ask for one of these graces: to live our days for the glory of God, that is to live with love; to know how to entrust ourselves to the Father in trials and to say 'dad' to the Father and to find forgiveness and the courage to forgive in enountering the Father. Francis again recalled the fire of Notre-Dame: "the work of reconstruction: it can be a choral work, for the praise and glory of God".