Sawt Falasteen - Pope wishes 'Happy Easter' to faithful in appearance at St Peter's Square

"Happy Easter," said the Argentine pontiff in a weak voice from his wheelchair at the balcony of St Peter's Basilica, to the delight of tens of thousands of faithful and others in the flower-filled square.

The pope traditionally delivers his "Urbi et Orbi" ("To the City and the World") benediction from the balcony that overlooks St Peter's Square, but he gave that task to a collaborator Sunday.

His address, read out, condemned "worrisome" anti-Semitism, and the "deplorable" situation in Gaza.

Given his delicate health following treatment for pneumonia, it had not been certain whether the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics would be present, or if so, in what capacity.

In the end, the pope made his appearance.

Just beforehand, he had a brief private meeting with US Vice President JD Vance, who was visiting Rome with his family.

"The meeting, which lasted a few minutes, gave the opportunity to exchange greetings on Easter Sunday," wrote the Vatican in a brief statement, saying the encounter took place at the pope's residence shortly before 11:30 local time (930 GMT).

Their meeting came months after a spat between Francis and the administration of US President Donald Trump over its anti-migrant policies.

- A crowd of 35,000 -

The Holy See's press service had not confirmed whether the pope would participate in Sunday's Easter celebrations, insisting it depended on his health.

That did not stop what the Vatican said was a crowd of some 35,000 people from gathering Sunday under hazy skies in the plaza decorated with tulips and other spring flowers in front of St Peter's Basilica, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Jesuit pope.

Marie Manda, 59, from Cameroon, was one of those thinking positively.

"Of course we hope to see the pope but if he's not here and he's still suffering we'll see his representative," she told AFP.

"But we want to see the pope, even sick we want to see him!"

Indian tourist Rajesh Kumar, 40, said, however, that he had no idea it was Easter when he booked his holiday with his wife.

"After coming here we realised there is a festival going on, the pope is going to give a speech, so we just entered and we are ready for it," he said.

Francis was released from hospital on March 23, after five weeks of treatment for pneumonia, from which he nearly died.

His voice remains weak, despite improvements in his breathing. In the last week, Francis has appeared in public twice without the nasal cannula through which he has been receiving oxygen.

He could delegate the reading of his Easter text -- usually a reflection on conflicts and crises around the world -- to someone else.

For the first time since becoming pope in 2013, Francis has missed the majority of Holy Week events, such as Friday's Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum and Saturday's Easter vigil at Saint Peter's Basilica, where he delegated his duties to cardinals.

He did, however, make a brief appearance inside the basilica on Saturday, where he prayed and gave candies to some children among the visitors.

Some 300 cardinals, bishops and priests will be present at Sunday's Easter mass.

Organisers expect even bigger crowds than usual due to the Jubilee, a Holy Year in the Catholic Church which comes around once every quarter of a century and attracts thousands of pilgrims to the Eternal City.

Francis performed one official engagement this Holy Week, visiting a jail in Rome, but he did not perform the traditional foot-washing ritual, which seeks to imitate Jesus Christ's washing of his disciples' feet.

Asked by a journalist after his visit what he felt about this Easter week in his current condition, the pope replied: "I am living it as best I can."

This year's Easter is unusual as it falls on the same weekend in both the Catholic and Protestant branches of Christianity, which follow the Gregorian calendar, and the Orthodox branch, which uses the Julian calendar.

G.AbuGhazaleh--SF-PST