Pope Francis greets cheering Easter crowds from popemobile as he recovers from pneumonia

By Joshua McElwee

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Francis entered St. Peter's Square on Sunday in an open-air popemobile for the first time since surviving double pneumonia, greeting tens of thousands of Catholics after the Vatican's celebration of Easter Mass.

The 88-year-old pope sat in a raised chair in the back of the white vehicle, as people lined the aisles inside the square, many holding aloft national flags and shouting "viva il papa!" (long live the pope!).

The popemobile briefly stopped at several points around the square, decorated with colorful flowers for Easter, as papal aides brought forward babies from the crowd for Francis to bless. The pope gestured with his hands, but only raised them slightly.

Francis, who has been limiting his workload on doctors' orders, did not preside over the Vatican's Easter Mass but appeared at the end of the event for a twice-yearly blessing and message known as the "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world).

In an Easter message read aloud by an aide as the pope looked on from the main balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, the pontiff reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Before a five-week hospital stay for pneumonia, which nearly killed him, Francis had been ramping up criticism of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave "very serious and shameful" in January.

In the Easter message, the pontiff said the situation in Gaza was "dramatic and deplorable". The pope also called on Palestinian militant group Hamas to release its remaining hostages and condemned what he said was a "worrisome" trend of antisemitism in the world.

"I express my closeness to the sufferings ... of all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people," said the message.

"I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace," it said.

POPE ALSO MEETS JD VANCE

Hamas last week rejected an Israeli proposal for another temporary truce, instead demanding a deal to end the war in exchange for the release of hostages. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday he had instructed the Israeli military to intensify pressure on Hamas.

The war was triggered by the Hamas-led October 7 attack on southern Israel in 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, more than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health authorities, with 1,600 people killed in Gaza in the past month.

Earlier on Sunday, Francis held a meeting at the Vatican with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who has been visiting Italy over the weekend.

The Vatican said the meeting with Vance was brief, "lasting a few minutes", in order to exchange Easter greetings.

(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Alison Williams and Ros Russell)