Pope Benedict called in his Easter message Sunday for an end to injustice worldwide and expressed joy at continuing conversions to Christianity hours after he baptised a prominent Italian Muslim convert. The Pope celebrated an Easter Mass for tens of thousands of people in driving rain in St Peter's Square as Christians around the world commemorated Christ's resurrection.
The pontiff said Mass while the crowd huddled under umbrellas.
It came some 12 hours after an Easter vigil service on Saturday night where, in a surprise move, the Pope baptised Muslim-born convert Magdi Allam (55), an outspoken journalist and fierce critic of Islamic extremism.
At the morning Mass, the Pope read a prayer saying that after Christ's resurrection some 2,000 years ago "thousands and thousands of people converted to the Christian faith", and he added: "This is a miracle that still renews itself today."
The Egyptian-born Allam's conversion was kept secret until the Vatican disclosed it in a statement an hour before the Saturday night service began.
Allam, who is a strong supporter of Israel, has lived under police protection following threats against him, particularly after he criticised Iran's position on Israel.
His conversion, which he called "the happiest day of my life," came just two days after al-Qa'ida leader Osama bin Laden accused the Pope of being part of a new crusade against Islam.
The Vatican was at pains to head off criticism from the Islamic world about the conversion of Allam, who defended the Pope in 2006 when the pontiff made a speech that many Muslims perceived as depicting Islam as a violent faith.
In his 'Urbi et Orbi' message, delivered after the Mass, the Pope decried "the many wounds that continue to disfigure humanity in our own day".
"These are the scourges of humanity, open and festering in every corner of the planet, although they are often ignored and sometimes deliberately concealed; wounds that torture the souls and bodies of countless of our brothers and sisters," he said.
He called for "an active commitment to justice . . . in areas bloodied by conflict and wherever the dignity of the human person continues to be scorned and trampled," mentioning Darfur, Somalia, the Holy Land, Iraq, Lebanon and Tibet.
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