For the second year in a row since the onset of the pandemic, Pope Francis delivered an Easter blessing and speech in a scaled-back ceremony on Sunday. During the event — held in St. Peter's Basilica with notably fewer people in attendance than before the pandemic — the pope repeated his call for broad access to COVID-19 vaccines across the world. "Everyone requires assistance and has the right to have access to necessary care," Francis said. "This is even more evident in these times where all of us are called to combat the pandemic, and vaccines are an essential tool in this fight." He added that the vaccines and their distribution should be international and spread throughout the poorest countries.