Pope to celebrate first Easter vigil

Pope Francis has prayed for peace in the Middle East and stronger Christian-Muslim dialogue. Source: AAP

POPE Francis is to celebrate his first Easter vigil on Saturday after praying for peace in the Middle East and stronger Christian-Muslim dialogue at a torch-lit ceremony for Good Friday.

The newly-elected Argentine Pope will preside over a mass at St Peter's Basilica, baptising four adult converts to Catholicism - an Albanian, an Italian, a Russian and a US national.

The ceremony will wrap up a series of intensive preparations leading up to Easter Sunday - the holiest day in the Christian calendar - by the first non-European Pope in nearly 1,300 years.

Tens of thousands of people are expected at mass on Sunday when the pope will issue a special blessing from the same balcony of St Peter's Basilica where he appeared on the night of his election.

Francis marked Good Friday with a traditional ceremony at the Colosseum in Rome, presiding over the re-enactment of Jesus Christ's last hours.

"Christians must respond to evil with good, taking the cross upon themselves as Jesus did," said Francis, who followed the ceremony from under a canopy overlooking the 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheatre.

The Pope also referred to a visit to Lebanon last year by Benedict, who stunned Catholic followers by resigning last month at the age of 85 saying he was too weak mentally and physically to continue.

"We saw the beauty and the strong bond of communion joining Christians together in that land and the friendship of our Muslim brothers and so many others," the 76-year-old Pope said.

At the Colosseum ceremony in Rome, prayers read out during the ceremony were written by a group of Lebanese young people who voiced hope for a Middle East "torn apart by injustice and conflicts".

The Vatican has voiced concern over the fate of Christian minorities in many parts of the Middle East and the rise of radical Islam, as well as calling for an end to conflict in the region.

Francis began the Easter season on Holy Thursday by washing the feet of 12 young prisoners including two Muslim inmates - in an unprecedented new take on an ancient pre-Easter ritual.

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