As Christians Mark Easter in Isolation, Pope Francis Proclaims ‘Contagion of Hope’

ROME—Celebrating Easter in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis on Sunday proclaimed what he called a “contagion of hope,” after he offered Mass in a near-empty St. Peter’s Basilica.

Speaking before just a handful of people, the pontiff called for the “victory of love over the root of evil, a victory that does not bypass suffering and death, but passes through them, opening a path in the abyss, transforming evil into good.”

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