The following is an edited version of the Easter message from Bishop Lionel Gendron, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops:

VATICAN CITY - The cross serves as a warning to the powerful and a message of hope for the poor and oppressed, said the preacher of the papal household.

JERUSALEM - For four decades, Mousa Kamar has taken his place at the head of the heavy wooden cross used during the Franciscan Good Friday procession on the Via Dolorosa.

ROME – Leading a prayer to God for the grace to feel ashamed and repentant for so many sins in the world, Pope Francis highlighted the hope that always comes from Jesus.

VATICAN – Papal preacher Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa dedicated his Good Friday homily to young people, comparing them to the apostle John and urging them to have the courage to go in the opposite direction of the selfishness of the world, running instead toward the sacrificial love of Jesus on the cross.

Do not be afraid, the angel said to the frightened women at the empty tomb. Do not be afraid, the risen Christ told His anxious disciples behind locked doors.

The story of Good Friday feels even more real when you’ve lived it, even if it’s only in a play. 

Nicodemus is the organization man who realizes his organization does not have the answers. So, he looks further afield. You are not supposed to do that, but he does it anyway. His heart hungers for more than arid policies, and what do you know, but he finds that something more.

Pope Paul V was a controversial leader in turbulent times. His biography cites a fondness for luxury, penchant for nepotism and persecution of Galileo, but also lauds his completion of St. Peter’s Basilica, contributions to education and the arts, encouragement of New World missionaries and the canonization St. Charles Borromeo.

For almost half a century nothing has defined the historic parish of St. Francis of Assisi in Toronto’s Little Italy as much as the annual Good Friday procession which attracts 70,000 people every year.

VATICAN – Christians in the Middle East, particularly those who have been forced from their homes by violence and persecution, need the support of the Catholic Church, a Vatican official said.

VATICAN CITY – Jesus came to the world not just to teach, but to radically change human hearts that have hardened from sin, the preacher of the papal household said during a service commemorating Christ's death on the cross.

When St. Francis of Assisi pastor Fr. Jimmy Zammit looks at Vincenzo Pietropaolo’s photographs he sees the faith of his community.

Resurrection of the Lord, April 16 (Year A) Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Psalm 118; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-18

The first Christian creeds were simple, direct and unadorned. The apostles proclaimed who Jesus was, what He did, what happened to Him, and His role in the universal judgment of humankind.

Good Friday was bad long before it was good, at least from outward appearances.