Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday lamented "suffering" in the world's strife-torn and poorest regions as millions across the globe marked Easter, the holiest day in the Christian calendar.
"How many wounds, how much suffering there is in the world! Natural calamities and human tragedies that cause innumerable victims and enormous material destruction are not lacking," the head of the Roman Catholic Church said his traditional Easter address.
"I am thinking of the scourge of hunger, of incurable diseases, of terrorism and kidnapping of people, of the thousand faces of violence which some people attempt to justify in the name of religion ..." he said.
Speaking from the loggia of St Peter's Basilica to a crowd of tens of thousands, the pope evoked the plight of victims of last week's tsunami in the Solomon Islands and added that "nothing positive comes from Iraq" which is "torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees."
The pope rarely speaks about the situation in Iraq, where attacks continue despite a massive security operation since February 14 to quell daily bloodshed that has left thousands dead in the last year alone.
He also expressed "apprehension" at "the conditions prevailing in several regions of Africa," the world's poorest continent, notably Darfur, Somalia and Zimbabwe.
"Zimbabwe is in the grip of a grievous crisis, and for this reason the bishops of that country in a recent document indicated prayer and a shared commitment for the common good as the only way forward," he said.
Zimbabwe has been wracked by a political and economic crisis which shows no sign of abating. In Sudan's restive Darfur region, at least 200,000 people have died according to the United Nations, since a conflict erupted in 2003.
The archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, the leader of the world's Anglicans, meanwhile urged Christians to embrace forgiveness and reconciliation, saying they could help resolve conflicts around the world.
Recalling recent progress in the Northern Ireland peace process, where rival Protestant and Catholic parties agreed last month for the first time to share power in the British-run province, Williams said: "Going forward requires us all to learn a measure of openness to discover things about ourselves we did not know, seeing ourselves through the eyes of another."
In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin marked Easter by returning a long-lost icon of Our Lady of Vladimir to Russia's Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II and pledged to return other religious relics lost in the Soviet era.
Alexy II on his part put aside long-running differences with the Roman Catholic Church to send Easter greetings to Pope Benedict XVI, in a letter quoted by the Interfax news agency Saturday.
"I ... wish you blessed peace, good health and the Risen Saviour's help in your lofty service" on the "ever-joyful holiday of Easter," the patriarch said.
For the first time this Easter an icon -- a holy work of art venerated by Orthodox Christians -- was placed near the altar as Benedict XVI presided over Easter mass in the Vatican's St Peter's Square decked out in spring flowers.
Celebrations took on different shades across the world. Solomon Islanders prayed for victims of the tsunami while a priest urged the people to take the task of rebuilding upon themselves.
"Now is not the time to wait and sit for supplies," Reverend John Pihavaka told his congregation.
"Now is time for you to make work, to start and rebuild after the tsunami," he said.
In Ukraine, Easter had political undertones with hundreds of protesters against President Viktor Yushchenko celebrating with traditional cakes and eggs sporting the blue-and-white colours of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who has defied Yushchenko's order to dissolve parliament.
Easter was celebrated with great fervour in Poland, where more than 90 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, prompting the priest of a leading Warsaw church to say there could be need to increase its capacity in future.
Iraq's dwindling Christian minority donned their Sunday best but held quiet festivities, fearful of the bombings and abductions terrorising Baghdad's streets.
