n 25 thousand to the Via Crucis at the Colosseum which for the second year is without the Pope. «To preserve his health in view of tomorrow’s Vigil and the Holy Mass on Easter Sunday, this evening Pope Francis will follow the Via Crucis at the Colosseum from home Santa Marta.” It is the communication that arrived at the last moment this evening from the Vatican Press Office, while everyone was waiting for the Pontiff at the Colosseum for the traditional Good Friday rite.
Seat left empty
Everything was ready, the security device along the route from the Vatican, the organization ready to welcome the Pope, the public waiting, the massive deployment of the police forces on the site: but the armchair on the usual position from above, from where Francis was supposed to preside over the Via Crucis, remained empty.
The meditations written and read during the Via Crucis
Pope Bergoglio, among other things, wrote for the first time the meditations read during the journey of the cross: there are “the children who no longer smile” due to “the madness of war” and all those who suffer in the drama of conflicts. There are “the many Christs humiliated by arrogance”.
There are women “who suffer outrage and violence”. But also “unborn children” and “discarded elderly people”. And the ‘haters’ who rage on social media also recur. In his texts – mainly from the perspective of prayer – the Pope makes a compendium of the sufferings of the world, to which one can return in thought while commemorating Christ’s ascent to Calvary and his death on the cross.
Francis’ prayer
Along the 14 stations the cross is carried not only by religious people, but also by migrants, disabled people and disadvantaged people.
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2024-03-30 01:27:34
