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Kate and William join Queen for Easter service at Windsor Castle
May delivers Easter message as pope condemns global violence
(about 3 hours later)
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have joined the Queen for an Easter service at Windsor Castle.
Political and religious leaders used their Easter messages to encourage unity and peace in a divided world.
William and Kate walked together down the hill to St George’s chapel for the service. They were not accompanied by Prince George or Princess Charlotte.
Theresa May insisted Britons were “uniting” after the divisions of Brexit and facing a “bright future” outside of the European Union.
The Queen arrived at the chapel with the Duke of Edinburgh.
The prime minister said: “This year, after a period of intense debate over the right future for our country, there is a sense that people are coming together and uniting behind the opportunities that lie ahead.
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Prince Edward, the Countess of Wessex, and their children, Lady Louise Windsor and Viscount Severn, also attended the service.
“For, at heart, this country is one great union of people and nations with a proud history and a bright future.
The princess royal and her husband, Vice-Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, were also seen arriving at the chapel.
“And as we face the opportunities ahead of us – the opportunities that stem from our decision to leave the European Union and embrace the world – our shared interests, our shared ambitions and above all our shared values can and must bring us together.”
Dozens of people waited outside and clapped as the monarch entered the church through the Galilee Porch. Princess Anne’s son, Peter Phillips, and his wife, Autumn, led the royal party into the church.
May – the daughter of a vicar – said Britain should be confident about Christianity’s role in society.
Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Canterbury said people must bring “restoration and hope” to a world where “evil” still exists.
“We must continue to ensure that people feel able to speak about their faith, and that absolutely includes their faith in Christ,” she said.
Justin Welby told his Easter Sunday congregation at Canterbury Cathedral that in the face of “pain and despair, grief and death” people should remember the words “do not be afraid”.
Jeremy Corbyn said used his Easter address to urge people to reflect on tackling social problems and the refugee crisis, saying “those principles are at the heart of Christianity”.
He referred to the attacks in Egypt that left more than 40 people dead in churches in Alexandria and Tanta last week.
“We hear painful stories every day, of homelessness, poverty or crisis in our health service – or across the world, of the devastating consequences of war and conflict, including millions forced to become refugees,” the Labour leader said.
He said in his sermon: “We are used to facts being contested. We are even used to facts being reduced to the level of opinion. So individualised are our news cycles that our opinions are in themselves the only facts that seem to count.
“It would be easy to retreat into our private lives because the challenges seem overwhelming, or allow ourselves to be divided and blame others.
“However, what brings the faithful out to worship in Tanta and Alexandria is truth. It happened. The resurrection is an event which – although never experienced before or since – changes everything because it happened.”
“But we need to respond to these problems head on, through action and support for social justice, peace and reconciliation.”
In an impromptu Easter Sunday speech in Rome, Pope Francis encouraged believers to hold fast to their faith despite the wars, sickness and hatred in the world.
At his Easter Sunday congregation, Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, said people must bring “restoration and hope” to a world where evil still exists.
Tens of thousands braved a brief downpour from what had been sunny skies over St Peter’s Square, where Francis celebrated mass on the steps leading to St Peter’s Basilica.
Welby told Canterbury cathedral that in the face of “pain and despair, grief and death” people should remember the words: “Do not be afraid.”
Traditionally, the pope gives no homily during the late-morning Easter mass, saving his reflections for the “Urbi et Orbi”, a solemn message delivered “to the city and to the world” at midday from the central balcony of the basilica.
In Rome, Pope Francis condemned Saturday’s deadly attack on a bus convoy in Syria in his Easter address.
Francis broke with that tradition, giving an off-the-cuff homily to try to answer what he described as a nagging question for many faithful: why are there so many tragedies and wars in the world if Jesus has risen from the dead, a belief Christians celebrate each Easter.
The Pope delivered his Urbi et Orbi (“To the City and the World”) message to thousands of pilgrims who gathered in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
“The church never ceases to say, faced with our defeats, our closed and fearful hearts, ‘stop, the Lord is risen’. But if the Lord is risen, how come these things happen?” Francis said, citing accidents, illnesses, human trafficking, revenge and hatred, among other suffering.
Francis said the bombing, which killed more than 100 people near the city of Aleppo, was “the latest vile attack on fleeing refugees”.
“Nobody asks us: ‘But, are you happy with all that’s happening in the world? Are you willing to go forward?, carrying a cross, as Jesus did?” Francis asked the faithful.
Meanwhile on Sunday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joined the Queen for an Easter service at Windsor Castle.
Francis gestured toward the potted hyacinths, tulips and daffodils, as well as bouquets of pink roses, arranged in neat rows on the steps leading to the imposing church.
William and Kate walked together down the hill to St George’s chapel for the service, but they were not accompanied by Prince George or Princess Charlotte.
Easter “isn’t a party with lots of flowers. This is pretty, but it’s not this, it’s more than this,” Francis said, describing the day as an occasion to ponder the mystery of faith.
The Queen arrived at the chapel with the Duke of Edinburgh, while Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Prince Edward, the Countess of Wessex, and their children, Lady Louise Windsor and Viscount Severn, also attended the service.
The pontiff said Easter brings “a sign in the midst of so many calamities: a sense of looking beyond, of saying don’t look to a wall, there’s a horizon, there’s life, there is joy”.
