Pope’s Easter lesson: Keep faith in trying times

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis delivered an Easter homily Sunday that called on people everywhere to cling to faith despite suffering from the violence and intolerance sweeping the world.

The pope addressed a concern likely on the minds of many Catholics on this religious holiday as they witness what seems like daily images of war, terrorism and famine in every corner of the globe: Why is tragedy so common if Jesus rose from the dead to forgive the sins of the world, the central belief behind Easter?

“The Church never ceases to say, faced with our defeaters, our closed and fearful herds, ‘Stop, the Lord is risen,’ ” Francis said in the homily, referring to accidents, human trafficking, disease, revenge and hatred. Easter is “a sign in the midst of so many calamities, a sense of looking beyond, of saying don’t look to a wall, there is a horizon, there is a life, there is joy.”

In his weekly radio address, President Donald Trump called Easter “a sacred time that fills the spirit of our nation with the faith of our people.”