ROME — Pope Francis rallied from a winter-long bout of respiratory issues to steer some 60,000 folks in Easter celebrations Sunday, making a robust enchantment for a cease-fire in Gaza and a prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine.

Francis presided over Easter Sunday Mass in a flower-decked St. Peter’s Square after which delivered a heartfelt prayer for peace in his annual roundup of worldwide crises. Gaza’s folks, together with the small Christian group there, have been a supply of fixed concern for Francis and Easter within the Holy Land total was a somber affair this yr given the battle.

“Peace is never made with weapons, but with outstretched hands and open hearts,” Francis mentioned from the loggia overlooking the sq., to applause from the wind-swept crowd under.

Francis appeared in good kind, regardless of having celebrated the 2½-hour nighttime Easter Vigil simply hours earlier than. The pontiff, who had a part of one lung eliminated as a younger man, has been battling respiratory issues all winter and his full participation in Easter providers was not solely assured, particularly after he skipped the normal Good Friday procession.

But in an indication the 87-year-old pontiff was feeling OK, he made a number of loops across the piazza in his popemobile after Mass, greeting well-wishers.

The Vatican mentioned some 60,000 folks attended the Mass, with extra packing the Via della Conciliazione boulevard resulting in the piazza. At the beginning of the service, a gust of wind knocked over a big spiritual icon on the altar only a few toes from the pope; ushers shortly righted it.

Easter Mass is among the most essential dates on the liturgical calendar, celebrating what the trustworthy imagine was Jesus’ resurrection after his crucifixion. The Mass precedes the “Urbi et Orbi” (to town and the world) blessing, through which the pope historically gives a laundry checklist of the threats afflicting humanity.

This yr, Francis mentioned his ideas went notably to folks in Ukraine and Gaza and all these going through battle, notably the youngsters who he mentioned had “forgotten how to smile.”

“In calling for respect for the principles of international law, I express my hope for a general exchange of all prisoners between Russia and Ukraine: all for the sake of all!” he mentioned.

He referred to as for the “prompt” launch of prisoners taken from Israel on Oct. 7, a right away cease-fire in Gaza and for humanitarian entry to succeed in Palestinians.

“Let us not allow the current hostilities to continue to have grave repercussions on the civil population, by now at the limit of its endurance, and above all on the children,” he mentioned in a speech that additionally touched on the plight of Haitians, the Rohingya and victims of human trafficking.

For the previous few weeks, Francis has usually prevented delivering lengthy speeches to keep away from the pressure on his respiratory. He ditched his Palm Sunday homily final week and determined on the final minute to remain dwelling from the Good Friday procession on the Colosseum.

The Vatican mentioned in a short clarification that the choice was made to “conserve his health.”

The choice clearly paid off, as Francis was capable of recite the prayers of the prolonged Saturday evening Easter Vigil service, together with administering the sacraments of baptism and First Communion to eight new Catholics, and preside over Easter Sunday Mass and ship his speech.

Francis wasn’t the one chief whose mere presence at Easter supplied a reassuring signal of stability and normalcy.

In Britain, King Charles III joined the queen and different members of the royal household for an Easter service at Windsor Castle in his most vital public outing since he was recognized with most cancers final month.

The monarch supplied a cheery wave to spectators as he walked into St. George’s Chapel, after which hung out shaking arms and greeting well-wishers after the service. “You’re very brave to stand out here in the cold,” Charles advised them.

But issues have been hardly regular in Jerusalem, the place Easter Mass got here and went on the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Only a couple of dozen trustworthy attended the service because the Israel-Hamas battle rages on in Gaza.

The medieval church within the Old City is the holy website the place Christians imagine Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.

In years previous, the church has been full of worshippers and vacationers. But the bloody battle in Gaza, now into its sixth month, has seen an enormous downturn in tourism and pilgrimages throughout Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The streets of the previous metropolis have been additionally absent of Palestinian Christians from the West Bank, who usually flock to town for Easter. Since the battle erupted, Palestinian worshippers from the Israeli-occupied territory have wanted particular permission to cross checkpoints into Jerusalem.

In Gaza, the scenario was much more bleak. Only a couple of dozen Palestinian Christians celebrated Easter Mass on the Holy Family Church in Gaza City, however there wasn’t a lot to rejoice.

“This doesn’t really feel like Easter, like different instances,” said Winnie Tarazi, a Christian from Gaza City. “It’s because we are here deprived of our homes, our belongings, our children, and everything. We lost our family between those who fled, who stayed, and who were destroyed.”

The sentiment was similar in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, where only a few dozen people attended Mass at the Church of the Nativity.

”There is no holiday atmosphere and there is no joyful atmosphere this year,” mentioned Bethlehem resident George Kanawati. “The holidays lack pleasure and the smile of youngsters, which the occupation all the time tries to erase and kill this smile.”

The plight of Gaza was additionally a priority in New York, the place police arrested three individuals who disrupted the Easter Vigil Mass at Manhattan’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Saturday. They held up a banner studying “Silence = Death” on the altar and yelled “Free Palestine” as they have been escorted out, police mentioned.

But in Iraq’s Nineveh Plains, the place 10 years in the past the Islamic State group killed and displaced hundreds of minority Iraqis, a whole bunch of individuals celebrated Easter in a area that has had a Christian presence since across the time of Jesus. Iraq’s Christian group, which was as soon as some 1.5 million sturdy, now numbers at most a couple of hundred thousand however they got here out in droves for Easter.

“We will definitely stick to this land and remain here until the last, and hope for a change,” mentioned Nassar Mubarak, who attended Easter Mass on the Immaculate Conception church in Qaraqosh.

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AP correspondents Danica Kirka in London, Jack Jeffery in Cairo, Mohammad Hajjar and Wafaa Shurafa in Gaza City, Farid Abdulwahed in Qaraqosh, Iraq, and Maysoon Khan in New York contributed.