Vatican City  - Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Easter Sunday Mass in St Peter's Square with a message in which he fondly recalled his recent visit to Africa while looking ahead to a planned trip to the Holy Land in May.

On an overcast spring day, tens of thousands of people gathered in the famous Roman square where brightly coloured flowers, including yellow ginesta and red rhododendron, decorated the altar.

The ceremony brought to a climax four days of intensive Easter-related commemorations involving the 81-year-old pontiff.

In his homily, Benedict reflected on the meaning of Jesus' resurrection, the event that Christians celebrate on Easter, and then returned to the theme at the end of the Mass.

"Even if through Easter, Christ has destroyed the root of evil, he still wants the assistance of men and women in every time and place who help him to affirm his victory using his own weapons," he said.

The weapons were "justice, truth, mercy, forgiveness and love," the pontiff told the faithful gathered in the square and those following the ceremony in dozens of countries where it was being broadcast on television.

It was "this message" that he wanted convey to the "entire African continent" during visits to Cameroon and Angola in March "where I was welcomed with such great enthusiasm and readiness to listen."

"Africa suffers disproportionately from the cruel and unending conflicts, often forgotten, that are causing so much bloodshed and destruction in several of her nations, and from the growing number of her sons and daughters who fall prey to hunger, poverty and disease," Benedict said.

"I shall repeat the same message emphatically in the Holy Land, to which I shall have the joy of travelling in a few weeks from now," Benedict said, referring to the May 8-15 trip to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

"Reconciliation - difficult, but indispensable - is a precondition for a future of overall security and peaceful coexistence, and it can only be achieved through renewed, persevering and sincere efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Benedict said.

The "peaceful battle" launched by Christ's resurrection needed to be extended to the "whole world".

One where food shortage, financial turmoil, poverty, "disturbing climate change," violence and deprivation continued to "force many to leave their homelands in search of a less precarious form of existence," Benedict said.

At the end of the ceremony, the spiritual leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics delivered the Urbi et Orbi "to the city and the world" blessing.

"May the grace and joy of the Risen Christ be with you all," he said in English.

The pontiff repeated the words in 63 languages including Arabic, Chinese, Swahili and his native German.

In Italian he recalled "those who suffer because of the earthquake," a reference to the devastating tremor that hit central Italy on Monday, tinging Easter festivities with sorrow.

By Sunday, the death toll stood at 293, including at least 20 children.

The German-born pontiff has said he plans to visit the region hit by the tremor "as soon as possible."

Late on Saturday Benedict presided over an Easter Vigil inside St Peter's Basilica while on the evening of Good Friday he led the traditional Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession at the Colosseum on Good Friday.

On Holy Thursday, the pontiff washed the feet of 12 priests in a traditional gesture commemorating Jesus' act of humility to his disciples at the Last Supper.