The media in Ukraine boycotted the Via Crucis broadcast. However, Francis had the text of the meditation shortened at the station where a Ukrainian and a Russian family were carrying the cross.
After a two-year break in Corona, Pope Francis led the traditional Via Crucis prayer at the Coliseum in Rome this Friday night. Tens of thousands of believers gathered in front of the ancient amphitheater for the atmospheric procession on Good Friday, which commemorated the seasons of Jesus’ suffering. A symbolic cross was carried through 14 stations. However, a gesture of reconciliation that was perceived as relativizing caused discord in Ukraine.
At the 13th Station of the Cross (“Jesus dies on the cross”), a Ukrainian nurse and a Russian nurse, both living in Rome, carried the simple black wooden cross. Kiev’s Roman Catholic Bishop Vitaly Kryvytsky said the action “may be incomprehensible and unacceptable to those who suffer from the aggressor”. Ukrainian Catholic media decided not to broadcast the Via Crucis live from Rome in protest. The Vatican’s envoy to Ukraine, Visvaldas Kulbokas, said there could only be reconciliation after the attack was stopped.
silent prayer
Despite the protests in Ukraine, the Pope kept the Via Crucis gesture, but significantly reduced the text of the meditation. “In the face of death, silence speaks louder than words, so let’s stand still and pray in our hearts for world peace,” he said. Earlier, he had said, among other things, “What mistakes have we made? Why have you let us down? Why have you let our people down?” The text should end with the request: “Speak in the stillness of death and separation and teach us to make peace, to be brothers and sisters, to rebuild”.
“Meditation has been replaced so that the faithful can focus on silence and prayer,” said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni. The two women exchanged a look before taking up the cross together. They were Albina, a Russian, third-year nursing student at the University Campus Bio-Medico in Rome, and Irina, a Ukrainian, nurse at the “Together for Healing” palliative care center at the Polyclinic Foundation of Opus Dei University.
Pope followed the Stations of the Via Crucis from the Palatine
The Pope prayed in front of the ancient amphitheater by the light of countless candles and torches. He accompanied the ceremony from a pavilion on Palatine Hill. Many believers waited hours for the ceremony to begin in front of the Coliseum. The traditional ceremony commemorating the Passion of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago, the highlight of the Easter program, took place on the so-called Via Crucis, in front of the Roman landmark. The Pope participated in the celebration, considered one of the most beautiful devotions of the Roman liturgical year.
Pope Francis accompanied the meditations at the 14 stations of the “Via Crucis”. A family has prepared a meditation for each of the seasons this year. The participating families suffered different blows of fate, including one with a migratory origin. A newly married couple, a large family with five children and a couple of grandparents also wrote a text. The Via Crucis meditations change every year. In recent decades, Pope Francis and his predecessors have chosen very different authors for broadcasters. John Paul II once asked Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I for a text.
Good Friday Liturgy
Before the Via Crucis, the Pope commemorated the suffering and death of Jesus on Good Friday. After the readings from the Holy Scriptures and the Great Intercessions, the veneration of the Cross was the focus of the celebration. At the beginning of the Adoration of the Cross, Francis, with knee pain, did not lie down at the foot of the altar, as prescribed by the Good Friday liturgy, but remained in prayer for a few minutes. Numerous cardinals and bishops, as well as diplomats accredited to the Holy See, attended the ceremony. The sermon was delivered by the Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa. There are no services in the Catholic Church on Good Friday and Holy Saturday to commemorate the death of Jesus.
The highlight of Easter celebrations at the Vatican is the Easter Vigil Mass on Saturday night. Other highlights of Holy Days and Easter at the Vatican are the Pope’s Easter Mass on Sunday morning in St. Peter’s Square (10:30 am) and the solemn blessing “Urbi et orbi” around noon.
Macron at Notre-Dame
On Good Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron visited the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was destroyed by a massive fire exactly three years ago. In view of the pandemic and the war in Europe, it is a “sign of hope” that the cathedral will be rebuilt, according to French media, according to Kathpress. Macron reiterated the goal of reopening in 2024. When the work is completed, the cathedral will be more beautiful than ever, “as we never knew in our life”, underlined the president. With regard to Good Friday, he pointed out that the religious holiday coincides with Jewish Easter and the Muslim month of fasting, Ramadan. He is “president of a secular republic” but notes there is “a kind of synchronicity,” said Macron, who is running for French presidency in just over a week in a runoff of far-right Marine Le Pen politics.
(APA)