Pope Francis returns to public eye for Easter vigil Mass

Pope Francis holds a Paschal candle as he presides over a Easter vigil ceremony in St Peter’s Basilica (AP)

Pope Francis has returned to public view, presiding over Easter vigil Mass in St Peter’s Basilica.

The move comes a day after unseasonably chilly weather in Rome convinced the recently ailing pontiff to skip Good Friday’s night-time procession at the Colosseum.

The 86-year-old pope is recuperating from bronchitis, which saw him treated in hospital for three days.

Pope Francis holds a Paschal candle as he presides over an Easter vigil ceremony in St Peter’s Basilica (AP)

On Sunday, tens of thousands of faithful are expected to join the pope in St Peter’s Square for Easter Mass and to listen to his speech about conflicts in the world at the end of Holy Week.

At the start of the Easter vigil, Francis, who arrived in a wheelchair he uses to cope with knee pain, incised a cross in the wax of a tall candle the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet — alpha and omega — and the numerals of this year.

Then the lit candle was carried by a cleric up the basilica’s centre aisle, past darkened pews filled with the faithful.

People watch a Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) torchlight procession on Good Friday at the Colosseum, in Rome (AP)

Dozens of cardinals and other prelates followed, each carrying a smaller, lit candle.

“The Church calls upon her sons and daughters, scattered throughout the world, to come together to watch and pray,” Francis said, beginning the service.

The basilica mass during the vigil of Christianity’s most important day has become an occasion for pontiffs to baptize several adults from around the world.

Selected to be baptized at this year’s vigil were eight believers, from Albania, the United States, Nigeria, Italy and Venezuela, the Vatican said.