When 28 babies were taken to the Garissa Cathedral to be baptised yesterday, Maltese Bishop Joseph Alessandro realised last week’s university massacre did not dishearten the Catholics of Kenya.

“It was a surprise to see the whole church full of people. There were many people, including many with babies in their arms to be baptised. We had 28 baptisms. It’s an encouraging sign that the Catholics are not all that afraid to come to church,” Mgr Alessandro, the co-adjudicating bishop, told Times of Malta soon after the Easter Sunday service at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Consolation.

The cathedral, which forms part of the compound where he lives with another Maltese bishop, Mgr Paul Darmanin, is located less than a kilometre away from the University of Garissa, which was attacked by Islamist militants last week.

Last Thursday, al-Shabaab gunmen attacked the university and massacred 148 people, singling out Christians for point-blank executions.

Pope Francis yesterday prayed for an end to the persecution of Christians in his Easter Sunday address, commemorating the students massacred.

During the Garissa service that was covered by international media amid tight security, Mgr Alessandro thanked and praised the faithful for turning up for the service so soon after the attack.

I used to meet several of them when they’d come to Mass on Sundays or when I went to the university

He told them that some of those who died would have been at the service and he read condolence messages from around the world. “I knew some by sight... I used to meet several of them when they’d come to Mass on Sundays or when I went to the university. I last went there a month ago to celebrate Sunday Mass for university and colleague students that added up to about 400 students,” he told this newspaper.

Thinking back to last Thursday, he said loud noises were heard at about 5.30am but many thought they were the monkeys on the roof. Some time later more sounds were heard, like gunshot, and they soon learnt what was going on. The ordeal ended in the evening when the last three gunmen blew themselves up.

“During these days we usually journey through the passion, the death and the resurrection of Jesus. This time we experienced it more in concrete terms: we suffered the loss of these people, we experienced the death of so many innocent individuals but also, as Catholics, we have faith that they are already risen with the Lord.

“This encourages us to go forth and give hope to our people, to continue to live peacefully even with those who do not share our faith,” he said, adding that the Catholic minority in Garissa had a peaceful relationship with the Muslim community there.

Mgr Alessandro has been serving in Garissa since 1989 and was himself shot and injured by bandits on a trip outside the town several years later. Two churches in Garissa were attacked by militants in July 2012 when grenades were fired killing 17 people. Three Maltese members of the Church based in Garissa, including Mgr Alessandro, were attending a meeting in the capital Nairobi at the time.