Christians nationwide commemorated the suffering and death of Jesus on Good Friday. Catholics and Protestants called for more humanity – also with a view to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Christians all over Germany commemorated the suffering and death of Jesus on Good Friday with solemn services and Stations of the Cross processions. In their sermons, many bishops referred to the suffering of the people of Ukraine, Israel and Gaza. The chairman of the Catholic German Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing, called on people to search more closely for God and what is truly human despite the multiple crises.
The acting council chairwoman of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Kristen Fehrs, emphasized that compassion must apply to everyone in these times: “And that is why one suffering must never be weighed against other suffering. Neither does the decades-long Middle East conflict justify the atrocities of Hamas, nor can the fight against terror excuse the killing of innocent civilians.”
Hundreds take part in processions
In some places cross costumes took place. The term is derived from “carrying the cross” and refers to carrying a cross in a procession. At the Lübeck Stations of the Cross, 600 Catholic and Protestant Christians prayed for peace in the world. Under the motto “What unites” they marched through the center of the Hanseatic city in the morning with a wooden cross.
At the 30th Stations of the Cross with around 800 participants at the dump at the former Prosper Haniel colliery in Bottrop, the Essen Catholic Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck related the treatment of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to the trial of Jesus before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. “The times in which we live urge us to search more for the truth and at the same time to endure the fact that, in a paradoxical sense, it often cannot be answered simply and clearly,” he said.
In Bensheim, Hesse, around 90 amateur actors paraded through the city center in historical costumes. The annual procession is organized by the “Bensheim Italian Families and German Friends” association. Migrants from Italy brought the passion play tradition with them in the 1980s.
Italians who moved to Bensheim in the 1980s established the Passion Play.
Complete Image procession in Lower Franconia
In Lohr am Main, Lower Franconia, many people also took part in a cross costume in the pouring rain. 13 life-size wooden figures were carried silently through the streets of the old town, depicting the story of Jesus’ passion. The procession, first documented in 1658, is considered one of the last complete picture processions in Germany.
Several hundred people came to the traditional cross costume in Meppen in Emsland, which has been celebrated since 1647. A man selected by the Meppen Cross Bearing Brotherhood carried a heavy wooden cross through the streets.