Francis led the ceremony for the holiest day in the Christian calendar on St Peter's Square, which will be followed by a special blessing and address to crowds of Catholic faithful in the famous Vatican piazza.
Swiss Guards and cardinals could be seen as tens of thousands of people crowded into St Peter's Square and the main avenue leading up to the Vatican, which was decorated with 35,000 flowers donated by Dutch growers.
Francis said the core of the Easter message was about returning to the basics and asking: "Have I gone off on roads and paths which made me forget it?"
This is Francis's second Easter since he was elected by fellow cardinals in March last year promising to make the Catholic Church less "Vatican-centric", more transparent and closer to ordinary people.
On Good Friday, Francis attended a traditional torch-lit ceremony at the Colosseum in Rome where he called for help to "abandoned people" and railed against "the monstruosity of humankind".
The Vatican almoner meanwhile dispensed charity on the pope's behalf to homeless people sleeping rough around Rome's main train station Termini, handing out an Easter greeting card and USD 69 notes each.
At the start of four days of Easter rituals on Maundy Thursday, the pope washed the feet of 12 disabled people at a centre in Rome in a new take on a traditional ceremony inspired by Christ's humility.
Easter this year coincides with the Orthodox calendar and Ukraine's government said it was holding off on a confrontation with pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine until after the Easter holidays.