Vatican’s Easter Mass opens without Pope Francis

Cardinal Angelo Comastri presides over the Easter mass in St Peter’s Square (Andrew Medichini/AP)

The Vatican celebrated Easter on Sunday without Pope Francis presiding, as the pontiff continues his recovery from a near-fatal bout of double pneumonia.

In his place, Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the retired archpriest of St Peter’s Basilica, celebrated the open-air Mass before thousands of people in St Peter’s Square on a chilly but sunny spring morning.