On the radiant morning of Easter Sunday 2026, Pope Leo XIV, from the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, confronted us with the most urgent question that springs from the empty tomb:  What now?  Not as an expression of bewilderment, but as a prophetic and hopeful call to action. His first  Urbi et Orbi  as Successor of Peter was not a mere liturgical greeting, but a profound theological and pastoral analysis that unites Christ’s victory with the responsibility of the baptized in a world wounded by war, indifference, and death.

A coherent theme emerges throughout Holy Week: Easter is not an end, but the true beginning. At the Easter Vigil, the Holy Father reminded us that “this holy night casts out hatred, brings concord, and humbles the powerful.” The Risen One, “the very Creator of the universe,” empowers us to “give life to a new world of peace and unity.” This is not a naive utopia, but a sacramental reality that springs from the Cross and the empty tomb.

The non-violent power of the Resurrection

Leo XIV clearly dismantles any temptation to interpret Easter as a worldly triumph. Christ’s victory “is not violent.” It is “like that of a grain of wheat which, though it withers in the earth, grows.” It is the power of Love that forgives, that dialogues, that gives itself to the extreme. This Gospel reading—faithful to Saint John and Saint Paul—contrasts radically with the logic of power today. While the world multiplies weapons and hatred, the Pope reminds us that the true power of Easter lies in the kenotic self-emptying: “to find us, the lost, he became flesh; to liberate us, he became a slave.”

Didactically, the Holy Father teaches us that the Resurrection confronts our freedom: we can choose fear and lies like the guards at the tomb, or wonder and mission like the women and the Apostles. “Let us be surprised by Christ! Let us allow his immense love to transform our hearts!” This conversion of heart is the indispensable condition for any social change. Without it, all activism becomes ideology; with it, every daily gesture becomes a seed of the Kingdom.

Three attitudes for Easter Time

1. Combating the Globalization of Indifference:  Echoing the teachings of Pope Francis, Leo XIV denounces that “we are becoming accustomed to violence” and are growing indifferent to suffering. Easter compels us to look: at the victims of war, at the poor, at the marginalized. It is not enough to lament; we must “make heard the cry for peace that springs from the heart.”
2. Choosing dialogue and abandoning weapons.  With prophetic courage, the Pope proclaims: “Let those who hold weapons in their hands lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue.” This is not passive pacifism, but an active proposal for encounter and the common good. The peace of Christ “touches and transforms the heart.”
3. As agents of new creation,  resurrected with Christ, “we too can give life to a new world.” Every baptized person is called to remove the stones that oppress: distrust, resentment, selfishness, injustice. The Vigil invites us to renew our baptismal promises precisely for this purpose: to be “lamps for the world,” witnesses that “evil does not have the last word.”

Let’s build together

This article aims to inspire. Leo XIV’s Easter is a positive and realistic program for the Church of the third millennium: a Church that listens to the cry of the poor (as he proposed in his Lenten Message), that serves with humility (as in the washing of feet), and that fearlessly proclaims the victory of life.

Now what? Now, to rise again each day. Now, to forgive seventy times seven. Now, to build bridges where others raise walls. Now, to be that “new humanity” that the Risen One has already begun.

May the Vigil of prayer for peace called for April 11 be only the first step of a People of God who, faithful to their Lord, transform lament into Alleluia and death into abundant life.

Christ is truly risen! Happy Easter! May Mary, Morning Star, accompany us on this beautiful mission. Amen.