How many wounds ...how much suffering

The 79-year-old Pope made the appeal in his Easter urbi et orbi message - "to the city and the world" - to tens of thousands of people gathered in St Peter's Square as he concluded the second Easter season of his pontificate.

In the speech, watched on television by millions in 67 countries, at the end of Easter Sunday mass, he listed his worries about problems facing the world, particularly in the Middle East and Africa.

"How many wounds, how much suffering there is in the world," he said.

Pope Benedict read out a long list of troubling current events, saying he was thinking of the "terrorism and kidnapping of people, of the thousand faces of violence which some people attempt to justify in the name of religion, of contempt for life, the violation of human rights and exploitation of persons".

"Afghanistan is marked by growing unrest and instability," he said. "In the Middle East, besides some signs of hope in the dialogue between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees."

The Pope said the Middle East's future was "put seriously in jeopardy" by political paralysis in Lebanon, where the government is challenged by an opposition that includes Hezbollah.

In Africa, he singled out what he called the "catastrophic, and, sad to say, underestimated humanitarian situation" in Darfur, but also highlighted suffering elsewhere on the continent: on-going violence and looting in Congo; the "grievous crisis" in Zimbabwe, marked by crackdowns on dissidents, a disastrous economy and severe corruption; and renewed fighting in Somalia.

The fresh violence in that country - centred on the Somali capital of Mogadishu - had "driven away the prospect of peace and worsened a regional crisis", the Pope said.

He also called for a negotiated solution to end the drawn-out, bloody conflict in Sri Lanka and said East Timor needed reconciliation ahead of elections. "Peace is sorely needed," the Pontiff said.

In an unusual touch for the Vatican's Easter Mass - perhaps as a demonstration of how old conflicts can be set aside - black-robed clerics intoned a long chant from the Byzantine liturgy.

This year, the wastern and western church celebrations coincided. They often mark Easter on different dates because they use different calendars.

Orthodox faithful in the Balkans, in Russia, in Greece and other places celebrated Easter with long, traditional ceremonies. Joining in the spirit, Russia made an exception to its block of transport links with Georgia to allow three flights from the country to Moscow for the Easter period.

Pope Benedict ended his speech with Easter greetings in dozens of languages, including Arabic and Hebrew, and giving the crowd his apostolic blessing.

• In Iraq yesterday, up to 17 people were killed and two dozen wounded by a car bomb in Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad. The US military also said four American troops died in an explosion north-east of the city on Saturday.

And in Sri Lanka yesterday, a suspected Tamil Tiger claymore mine ambush killed one Sri Lankan army soldier and injured several others.

Easter sermons balance despair with hope

RELIGIOUS leaders across the country used their Easter Sunday sermons to address their most pressing concerns, with hope an overriding theme.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, focused on the damage being done to the environment.

In his address he called on Scots to be less wasteful, revealing plans by a coalition of Catholic organisations to launch a "live simply" project to encourage people to care for the planet.

Overfishing, deforestation and pollution must be tackled along with climate change, he said.

"Massive and devastating environmental catastrophes continue, unaffected by climate change or carbon emissions, and we must take the whole picture into account when we consider the damage being done to our Mother Earth," the cardinal said. On Scotland's consumer culture, he added: "We take and use much more than our share, and we cannot maintain this any longer."

Hope was a common theme.

The Rev Alan McDonald, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, said: "In a world of darkness and despair, the message of Easter is a candle-light in the darkness, whispering softly that the love of God can never be extinguished."

The leader of England's Catholics, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, spoke out during his Easter address at Westminster, about fears that modern Britain's "now generation" culture left those in poverty and suffering devoid of hope.

An expectation of instant gratification threatened to marginalise the poor, he said.

The Archbishop of Canterbury urged all people to consider the Easter message of reconciliation and forgiveness as tools to resolve conflict.

Dr Rowan Williams said the story of Easter should provide comfort and encouragement during times of conflict and suspicion.

Meanwhile, Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, used his sermon to call for the release of the Scottish journalist Alan Johnston, kidnapped in Gaza last month.

Dr Sentamu said the BBC reporter, who was abducted by masked gunmen on 12 March, was not an "enemy" and should be freed immediately.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall - who was making her first public appearance since her hysterectomy - celebrated Easter at Crathie Kirk on Royal Deeside, ahead of their wedding anniversary today.

KARIN GOODWIN