From Rome
After more than two years of a pandemic that prevented some of the Holy Week celebrations from taking place in the most traditional places and ways, Pope Francis returned this Friday to celebrate the Via Crucis at the Colosseum in Rome, one of the most significant and ancient monuments preserved in the Italian capital. Built in the 1st century AD, the Colosseum was born as an amphitheater for gladiator fights and shows. Originally called the Flavian Amphitheatre, it was later known as the Colosseum in memory of Emperor Nero. Hundreds of Christians were martyred there when their faith was not yet accepted by the Roman Empire. It was Emperor Constantine, in the year 313, who authorized the Christian religion, after his mother, Helena, converted to Christianity and he understood that otherwise he would not have been able to control the Christians who were increasing day by day.
In memory of the Christian martyrs, the Way of the Cross on Good Friday takes place in and around the Colosseum. The Pope follows him from a terrace in front of the Colosseum. And this year, which the Vatican has dedicated to the family, Francis decided that a group of families would write the reflections of each of the fourteen stations of the Via Crucis and carry the cross. Among them a Russian and a Ukrainian. And this bothered the Ukrainian embassy to the Holy See, which said so, when quite possibly the Pope did so to encourage brotherhood between the two peoples. It was actually two girl friends, the Russian Albina, a medical student, and the Ukrainian Irina, a nurse, who share spaces in the same hospital, the Rome Biomedical Campus. And in their reflection they asked everyone to pray for peace in the world.
“When we met shortly after the war broke out – Irina told Italian television RAI – Albina came to where I was working, I was on duty. And it was enough for us to look at each other and our eyes filled with tears and Albina began to apologize to me. She felt guilty but I assured her that she had nothing to do with it”. “This war has brought us closer together,” she added.
The Via Crucis concluded with a refugee family from Africa. “We are here after trips in which we have seen women and children, friends, brothers and sisters die (…) We who were important in our house, here we are just numbers, categories, simplifications. And yet we are more than migrants. We are people”, they said in the reflection written by them.
Some ten thousand people, according to official data, with candles in hand and excited faces, participated in the Via Crucis outside the Colosseum. And an Argentine flag also appeared in the crowd. At the conclusion of the ceremony, Pope Francis only blessed those present and greeted several members of the families that participated.
Since Francis came to the papacy in 2013, participation in these celebrations has been opened up to other members of the Church, not just priests, bishops or cardinals. On Good Friday 2019, for the first time a nun wrote the reflections that were read at each station of the Via Crucis at the Colosseum. And the theme of the reflections was women and especially the trafficking of women who came mainly from African countries. On Good Friday 2020, instead, at the start of the pandemic, Pope Francis was forced to celebrate the Via Crucis in a completely deserted St. Peter’s Square. Only a group of about ten members of the Church were fulfilling their different stages. That of 2021 was a little more pleasant, always in Saint Peter’s Square, with the presence of some 250 people distributed to the right and left of the canopy where the Pope was and with the participation of children and young people who were reading his reflections .
This Friday afternoon and when celebrating the Passion of the Lord in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Francis once again alluded to the war in Ukraine. “Almighty and eternal God, in your hands are the hopes of men and the rights of every people: assist with your wisdom those who govern us so that with your help they may promote lasting peace throughout the Earth, the prosperity of peoples. and religious freedom,” Francis said. He had done something similar last Palm Sunday: “Lay down your arms! Let an Easter truce begin, but not to reload weapons and resume combat. Do not! A truce to reach peace, through negotiation, willing even to sacrifice for the good of the people”, he asked.
On Holy Thursday, the Pope celebrated Mass in the Civitavecchia prison, some eighty kilometers from Rome, where he washed the feet, as is the tradition on that day, of twelve prisoners. On Saturday he will celebrate the Easter Vigil at 7:30 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica where some adults will be baptized and confirmed. On Easter Sunday, after the celebrations in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis will give his blessing “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) from the central balcony of the basilica that overlooks St. Peter’s Square. , a message in which the Pontiff generally refers to the world’s main problems. Joining the pope at the time will be, among others, Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny, who was sent twice by Francis to Ukraine and neighboring countries to help those fleeing war.
The Pope will speak to a square full of believers, after more than two years of absence, and full of flowers that, as has been traditional for years, are donated by the Netherlands. And the celebrations will be translated into several languages, including Russian and Ukrainian.
