The Easter Vigil was celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica with an atmospheric celebration to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Pope Francis provided an emotional climax at the end of the sermon when he addressed Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol, who was a guest in the front row.
"We all pray with you and for you," said Francis, "in this darkness in which you live, the darkness of war, of cruelty."
He encouraged the Ukrainians.
Fedorov was kidnapped by the Russians during the war and only released in the course of a prisoner exchange.
He was a guest at the Vatican together with parliamentarians.
Francis concluded his homily with the phrase "Christ is risen" in Ukrainian.
For the first time in the pontificate, the 85-year-old Argentinian refrained from leading the most important service of the church year himself;
this was taken over by Cardinal Dean Giovanni Battista Re.
Francis, who has already had many events this Holy Week and is also plagued by knee pain, followed the mass mostly sitting on an armchair in front of the around 5,500 believers.
In addition to the sermon, he baptized seven adults.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ after his death on the cross is celebrated on the Holy Night before Easter Sunday.
The ceremony traditionally began with the procession into the dark cathedral behind the Easter candle, where the candles of the priests and believers in St. Peter's Basilica are lit to the call "Lumen Christi" (Light of Christ).
On Sunday (10 a.m.) the big Easter mass will take place on St. Peter's Square in front of tens of thousands of believers.
Afterwards (12 o'clock) Francis will proclaim his Easter message and bestow the traditional blessing "Urbi et Orbi" on the city and the world.