Pope, at Easter Vigil, Hopes for Post-pandemic Rebirth 

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis, leading an Easter vigil service scaled back because of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Saturday that he hoped the dark times of the pandemic would end and that people could rediscover "the grace of everyday life."

This year is the second consecutive Easter that all papal services are being attended by about 200 people in a secondary altar of St. Peter's Basilica instead of the nearly 10,000 that the largest church in Christendom can hold. The service began two hours earlier than usual so that participants could get home before a 10 p.m. curfew in Rome, which, like the rest of Italy, is under tough lockdown restrictions during the Easter weekend. Italy reported more than 140,000 new cases of the coronavirus in the past week, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, and nearly 3,100 deaths. At the start of the service, the basilica was in darkness except for the flames from candles held by participants to signify the darkness in the world before Jesus. As the pope, cardinals and bishops processed to the altar and a cantor chanted three times, the basilica's lights were turned on.