Amid some of the tightest security ever seen at the Vatican, Pope John Paul issued an Easter condemnation of terrorism Sunday and urged world leaders to bring peace to Iraq and other flashpoints.
Speaking to tens of thousands of people in St Peter's Square and tens of millions of television viewers and radio listeners, he railed against "a logic of death" pervasive in the world.
"May (humanity) find the strength to face the inhuman, and unfortunately growing, phenomenon of terrorism," he said in his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message.
The long shadow of the conflict in Iraq reached as far as St Peter's Square this year with an Easter season that has been marked by unprecedented security for fear of an attack at the heart of Christianity or elsewhere in Italy.
Many more police -- in uniform and plainclothes -- were on hand than in the past to check people as they entered the Vatican area.
The Polish pope, who afterward wished the world a Happy Easter in 62 languages -- including Arabic and Hebrew -- painted one of the bleakest pictures of the world that he ever has in his 26 Easters as Roman Catholic leader.
He said the international community had its work cut out for it in trying to deal with conflicts and asked God to sustain world leaders "in their efforts to resolve satisfactorily the continuing conflicts" in Iraq, the Holy Land and Africa.
St Peter's Square was bedecked with the usual thousands of flowers and hundreds of trees donated by the Netherlands but the mood and the pope were decidedly more glum than in the past.
GRAY SKIES, GRAY MESSAGE
Rome was appropriately overcast and unseasonably cold as the pope spoke of a world "troubled by many threatening shadows" and yet still hoping for light and peace.
"Take heed all of you who have at heart mankind's future! Take heed men and women of good will! May the temptation to seek revenge give way to the courage to forgive; may the culture of life and love render vain the logic of death; may trust once more give breath to the lives of peoples," he said.
He wore resplendent gold and white vestments and, although his voice was raspy at the end of a hectic week of activities, he raised it several times to stress his peace appeal.
"If our future is one, it is the task and duty of all to build it with patient and painstaking far-sightedness," he said.
He reminded Christians, Jews and Muslims that they are all children of Abraham and so should "rediscover the brotherhood that they share" and work for peace together.
This Easter season at the Vatican has been marked by unprecedented security for fear of an attack.
Police have sealed manhole covers near St Peter's and diverted traffic at night to thwart possible suicide bombers.
Last week, Italian media reported that intelligence agencies had warned the Vatican that the pope, who was shot in 1981, might be the target of an attack during the Easter period.
Officials have banned small aircraft over Rome for the Easter holidays, with jet fighters and helicopters ready to take to the air within minutes to intercept intruders.
They said precautions were on a new scale this year following the March 11 train blasts that killed 191 people in Madrid and with the deteriorating situation in Iraq, where Italy has some 3,000 troops.
Throughout Italy, some 19,000 police and 4,000 military are on hand to protect more than 13,000 sites that could be targets.