Despite declining numbers and sometimes a lack of appreciation from clergy, women religious are called to be courageous like the women disciples who discovered Jesus’ empty tomb and rushed off to share the news of his resurrection, Pope Francis said.

The pope met at the Vatican April 13 with members of the Religious Association of Social and Health Institutes, which represents more than 250 hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and other health care centers operated by religious institutes throughout Italy.

Just as Catholics worldwide commemorated Jesus’ resurrection and his triumph of good over evil on Easter Sunday, theaters across the United States were preparing for the release April 14 of the latest “supernatural horror thriller” of good versus evil with “The Pope’s Exorcist.”

In their discussions about the life of the church and “synodality,” or walking together, Catholics in United States and Canada noted the negative impact “polarization” is having on the church, said Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas.

Sharing the Gospel requires literally “going out,” witnessing to the joy of faith in person and not just sitting at home, being “keyboard warriors” who argue with others online, Pope Francis said.

The Vatican’s chief prosecutor said Pope Francis has given him free rein to investigate the 1983 disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, a 15-year-old Vatican resident.

The women disciples, who were the first to meet the risen Jesus, offer a lesson to all Christians: “We encounter Jesus by giving witness to him,” Pope Francis said.

On a bright spring morning, Pope Francis prayed that Christians would experience the joy of Easter and allow Christ’s resurrection to be “the light that illumines the darkness and the gloom in which, all too often, our world finds itself enveloped.”

Easter is the time “to roll away the stone of the tombs in which we often imprison our hope and to look with confidence to the future, for Christ is risen and has changed the direction of history,” Pope Francis said as he celebrated the Easter Vigil Mass.

Alone, without God, humanity is nothing, the papal preacher told Pope Francis and thousands of people gathered for the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion.