Pope Francis celebrated his first Easter Mass at St. Peter's Square

Today Pope Francis celebrated his first Easter Mass at St. Peter's Square followed by the Urbi et Orbi blessing - "to the city and the world" - from the papal balcony. It was a moving and memorable event for the new pope and the crowd of about 300.000 people gathered in the Square as well as for the millions of television viewers around the world. 

The Christmas Eve Mass in St Peter's Basilica in 2012

Watching Christmas Eve and Easter Masses celebrated in St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican has been tradition in my family for decades now. I find it amazing that they are able to create a feeling of warmth, even intimacy, in spite of the huge size of the St Peter' s - it can easily host more than 15.000 people.

Pope Benedict XVI celebrating the Christmas Eve Mass in 2012

Masses celebrated in St Peter's Square, pictured below in a 19th century drawing by Boudier, are even bigger events, with up to 80 000 people attending.