VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI led prayers for peace on the holiest day of the Christian year at a rainy outdoor Mass here on Easter Sunday, exulting in conversions to the faith hours after the Vatican highlighted the baptism of Italy's most prominent Muslim.
In a prayer before thousands of soaking pilgrims and tourists at St. Peter's Square, the pope noted that the disciples had spread the message of Christ's resurrection — celebrated Sunday — and as a result "thousands and thousands of persons converted to Christianity."
"This is a miracle, which renews itself even today," he said.
Days after Osama bin Laden issued a threat against Europe that included an accusation that the pope was involved in a "new Crusade" against Islam, Magdi Allam, an Egyptian-born writer protected by Italian bodyguards for his criticism of radical Islam, was baptized by the pope Saturday night and received his first Holy Communion. The news about Allam, a secular Muslim who is married to a Catholic, was accented by a Vatican news release an hour before the baptism.
"It was the most beautiful day of my life," Allam, 55, a deputy editor at Italy's largest daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera, wrote in a column on Sunday. "The miracle of the resurrection of Christ reverberated in my soul, freeing it from the shadows of a preaching where hate and intolerance toward he who is different, toward he who is condemned as an 'enemy,' prevailed over love and respect for your neighbor."
Allam said that he would take a new middle name, "Cristiano," which is Italian for Christian.
Easter culminates the busiest week of the year at the Vatican. Scores of Masses and ceremonies mark the period in which Jesus Christ was arrested, crucified and, two days later, resurrected.
As is tradition, the 80-year-old pope prayed for peace in troubled parts of the world. He singled out Darfur in Sudan, Somalia and "the tormented Middle East, especially the Holy Land, Iraq, Lebanon." He also mentioned Tibet, a sensitive issue for the Vatican, which is working to improve ties with China, amid unconfirmed reports of direct talks here last week between Chinese and Vatican officials.
"How often relations between individuals, between groups and between peoples are marked not by love but by selfishness, injustice, hatred and violence," the pope said. "These are the scourges of humanity, open and festering in every corner of the planet, although they are often ignored and sometimes deliberately concealed; wounds that torture the souls and bodies of countless of our brothers and sisters."
Though it was difficult to hear the pope as the rain thumped off umbrellas, the pope, under a canopy in front of St. Peter's Basilica, delivered Easter greetings in 63 languages.