Pope: Easter drives out hatred and brings down the mighty

Pope Leo XIV reflected on good, evil, and rebirth on Saturday evening, as he presided over the Easter Vigil Mass in St Peter’s Basilica.

Easter, the Pope said, quoting from an ancient hymn, “drives out hatred, fosters concord and brings down the mighty”.

While the heart of the Easter story is Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, Pope Leo said, “the holy mystery of this night … extends across the centuries”.

In the nine Scripture passages read during the liturgy, the Pope explained, we glimpse some of the stages of this “path of reconciliation and grace”, from God’s creation of the world to the Israelites’ flight from Egypt to the ministry of St Paul.

The unifying theme of all these moments in salvation history, the Pope stressed, is that “God responds to the hardness of sin – which divides and kills – with the power of love, which unites and restores life”.