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Pope: Resurrection the ‘crucial leap’

Pope Benedict XVI lights a candle during the Easter vigil Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Saturday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Nicole Winfield Associated Press
Pope Benedict XVI lights a candle during the Easter vigil Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Saturday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI ushered in Easter services late Saturday with a dramatic, candlelit vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica, saying Christ’s resurrection was “the most crucial leap” in the history of mankind.

The bells of St. Peter’s tolled across Rome as midnight approached to herald Easter, when the faithful celebrate the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion on Good Friday.

This year, Easter Sunday also coincides with Benedict’s 79th birthday.

At the start of Saturday night’s lengthy vigil, Benedict entered the darkened basilica in silence, holding in front of him a single white candle. Its flame was then shared with others until slowly the whole basilica began to twinkle with candles held by the thousands of faithful gathered for the chant-filled service.

During his homily, a tired-looking Benedict said some people wrongly believe that the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection did not concern ordinary men.

“If we may borrow the language of the theory of evolution, it is the greatest ‘mutation,’ absolutely the most crucial leap into a totally new dimension that there has ever been in the long history of life and its development: a leap into a completely new order which does concern us, and concerns the whole of history,” he said in response.

During the service, Benedict baptized seven people – a rite he said was more than a simple washing or purification of the soul.

“It is truly death and resurrection, rebirth, transformation to a new life,” he said.

Benedict had just a few hours to rest before celebrating Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square today. After the Mass, he will move to the central balcony of the basilica to deliver the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” speech.

Benedict led a Good Friday Way of the Cross evening procession at Rome’s Colosseum in which he denounced “threats” to the institution of the family and lamented the divide between the world’s rich and poor.

The busy Holy Week ceremonies were Benedict’s first since being elected pope a few weeks after Easter in 2005.