In the early hours on a stunning Easter morning in Vatican City, thousands of people from around the world waited to be let into St Peter's Square for Pope Francis' Mass.

Once access was opened, nuns and priests were among those who ran to secure a good vantage point, in a square bedecked with nearly 40,000 flowers donated by the Netherlands.

Just days ago they may have had doubts about whether Pope Francis, 86, would be well enough to attend Holy Week events at all.

Recent complaints of breathing difficulties had led to an untimely spell in hospital.

Since being discharged after what was determined to be a bout of bronchitis, Pope Francis has managed to fulfil most of his commitments, leading Mass on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

But for the first time since becoming pope in 2013, he did miss the Via Crucis ceremony on the evening of Good Friday at Rome's Colosseum, which commemorates the final hours in the life of Jesus.

At other points during the week the Pope had appeared tired and sometimes breathless.

It all meant that many who had come to St Peter's Square today spoke of their concerns about how the Pope might look and sound.

In the end, he appeared untroubled through the 75-minute long Mass.

But it was immediately afterwards that he seemed particularly energised, moving along a row of cardinals in his wheelchair to greet and smile and speak with them, before taking to his open-top vehicle to wave to the crowds.

"The Pope looked in really good health," said Sally, who was visiting from Maidenhead, in the UK, with her husband and two children.

"The crowd was encouraging him along, but he looked happy and it was great to see him in fine spirits."

Eliana, from Liguria in north-western Italy, said: "I was very worried when he was in hospital and I kept informed because he's so special.

"He wanted to fulfil all his commitments for this Holy Week, and to see him here you realise just how strong he is."

The last of those commitments was an appearance at the main balcony of St Peter's Basilica to deliver his "Urbi and Orbi" blessing - to "The City and the World."

In it, he spoke of his "deep concern" over the recent flare-up of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, praying for peace in Jerusalem and beyond.

Pope Francis has faced criticism from some Ukrainians in the past for seeming to conflate their suffering with that being experienced by Russians.

He prayed to "help the beloved Ukrainian people on their journey towards peace", and also to "shed the light of Easter upon the people of Russia".

And with that, as he disappeared from the view of the estimated 100,000 who had come to see him, Pope Francis had successfully negotiated the toughest week in his calendar.

Sash - encore une fois

The English term is derived from the festival of the Anglo-Saxon Spring goddess Ēostre; Easter is also linked to the Jewish Passover by its name (Hebrew: פֶּסַח pesach, Aramaic: פָּסחָא pascha are the basis of the term Pascha), by its origin (according to the synoptic Gospels, both the crucifixion and the resurrection took place during the week of Passover) and by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar. In most European languages, both the Christian Easter and the Jewish Passover are called by the same name; and in the older English versions of the Bible, as well, the term Easter was used to translate Passover.

Easter customs vary across the Christian world, and include sunrise services, midnight vigils, exclamations and exchanges of Paschal greetings, clipping the church (England), and decoration and the communal breaking of Easter eggs (a symbol of the empty tomb). The Easter lily, a symbol of the resurrection in Western Christianity, traditionally decorates the chancel area of churches on this day and for the rest of Eastertide. Additional customs that have become associated with Easter and are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians include Easter parades, communal dancing (Eastern Europe), the Easter Bunny and egg hunting. There are also traditional Easter foods that vary by region and culture.

1912 – RMS Titanic sets sail from Southampton, England on her maiden and only voyage.

On Wednesday 10th April 1912 shortly after 12noon, RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton's White Star Dock on her maiden voyage to New York. Her commander was Captain Edward J. Smith, RD, RNR, who had arrived early that morning in preparation for the Board of Trade muster at 8am.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTff04cFsRw

1998 – The Good Friday Agreement is signed in Northern Ireland.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lyiZMeTKIo

Good Friday Agreement: Two women thankful for 25 years of the peace process

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-northern-ireland-65196630

Erin McArdle and Kerrie Hope Patterson were both born on 10 April 1998 - the same day the Good Friday Agreement was signed in Belfast.

T111

T111

11th April 1912

Today at 11.30am - Titanic anchors off Roches Point at the entrance to Cork Harbour. Seven 1st Class passengers disembark and seven 2nd and 113 3rd Class passengers embark from the tenders Ireland and America. One crewman, Fireman John Coffey a native of Queenstown, desserts the ship. At 1.30pm Titanic departed Queenstown. Onboard are an estimated 1,316 passengers, representing about one-half of the ships total passenger capacity on what was classed as low-season on the North Atlantic.

This image, taken by theological student Francis Brown as he left the ship, is one of the last-ever photographs of Titanic before she sank.

https://www.titanicbelfast.com/history-of-titanic/on-this-day/11th-april-1912/

April 11th, 1912 - The Titanic anchors at Queenstown (now Cobh), Co Cork
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The doomed ship anchors two miles off shore at Roches Point as the port could not accommodate a ship of its size. 123 mainly 3rd class passengers who had paid 15, 10 shillings for a one way trip embarked. Eight people who boarded at either Southampton or Cherbourg disembarked. Only 48 of the Queenstown passengers would survive.

Those who would die include 18-year-old Mary Delia Burn’s from Sligo, 20-year-old Katherine Buckley from Cork. One of the passengers who disembarked was Frank Brown, then training for Jesuit priesthood. Brown took the only photographs of the Titanic’s final stop that are known to survive. Brown had been gifted a ticket for the Southampton-Queenstown part of Titanic’s fateful voyage.

Frank Brown took the last published photograph of Titanic Captain Edward Smith. Following Brown’s ordination, he became a decorated chaplain with the Irish Guards during World War I.

Brown continued his passion for photography throughout his life and his tenure as Superior of St Xavier’s church. Frank Brown died in 1960.

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To mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking, the BBC World Service broadcast, on 10 April 2012, a radio documentary in the "Discovery" series, entitled Titanic – In Her Own Words. The programme was conceived and created by Susanne Weber and was narrated by Sean Coughlan, who had previously written a book on the Titanic radio messages. The programme used voice synthesis to re-create "... the strange, twitter-like, mechanical brevity of the original Morse code messages ... " transmitted by Titanic and neighbouring ships. Messages often included the fashionable slang expressions of the time, such as "old man". The BBC noted that "these messages were recorded at the time in copper-plate handwriting, now scattered across the world in different collections, but together forming a unique archive."

April 12, 1912 (Friday)

The French liner SS La Touraine sent a radio message to Captain Edward Smith of the Titanic, giving the ship the first warnings of an ice field as far south as 42°S (roughly the latitude of Chicago).

The average lifespan of an iceberg in the North Atlantic typically is two to three years from calving to melting. This means the iceberg that sank the Titanic likely broke off from Greenland in 1910 or 1911, and was gone forever by the end of 1912 or sometime in 1913.

By the time Titanic departed westwards across the Atlantic she was carrying 892 crew members and 1,320 passengers. This was only about half of her full passenger capacity of 2,435, as it was the low season and shipping from the UK had been disrupted by a coal miners' strike. Her passengers were a cross-section of Edwardian society, from millionaires such as John Jacob Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim, to poor emigrants from countries as disparate as Armenia, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Syria and Russia seeking a new life in the United States.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFqfwNxvV18

Two Indonesian football teams have played for the first time since their last match ended with one of sport's worst stadium disasters.

In October, 135 people died in a crush following a match between Indonesian clubs Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya at Arema's Kanjuruhan Stadium.

The two rivals met again on Tuesday at a stadium owned by the national police force in Indonesia's capital Jakarta.

There were no fans present and Persebaya won 1-0.

Arema coach Joko Susilo said some of his team did not play because of the mental impact of the previous fixture.

"We understand all of that and here we are working hard, we have also prepared our tactics, any technical issues but mentally it's very difficult," he said.

"We know some of the players were deeply [traumatized], but that was our job."