report
Status: 04/16/2022 02:23 am
Despite criticism from the Ukraine, a Ukrainian and a Russian woman carried the cross together for a piece at the traditional Way of the Cross devotion in Rome. After all, the Vatican changed the text that was read out at short notice.
It is downright a sea of lights that evening at the Colosseum in Rome: around 10,000 believers came to the traditional Good Friday procession, almost all of them carrying candles in their hands. The scenery is atmospheric. Pope Francis is immersed in prayer while the stations of the Passion are symbolically walked with the cross. Short texts, so-called meditations, are presented. But then comes the 13th station, that of the crucifixion of Jesus.
Two blonde women, two friends who work in nursing, wear the simple cross together a piece – Irina and Albina. Irina is Ukrainian, Albina Russian. A speaker begins to read the meditation associated with the station:
In the face of death, silence speaks louder than words. So let us pause in prayerful silence and let us all pray in our hearts for peace in the world.
But that is not the text that the Vatican had published in advance. There it was said, among other things: “What mistakes have we committed? Why have you abandoned our people?” And: “Teach us to make peace, to be brothers and sisters, to rebuild what the bombs wanted to destroy.”
In Ukraine in particular, this text, the whole gesture of reconciliation, was considered extremely inappropriate and too early – in view of the Russian war of aggression, in view of the terrible pictures from Bucha and other Ukrainian cities.
But Pope Francis stuck to his plan, but the text was changed at the last moment. During the silent prayer, Pope Francis covers his face with his hand – it’s an impressive moment.
Around 10,000 believers came to the traditional Good Friday procession.
Image: dpa
Dedicated to the situation of families
Then it goes on to the 14th and last station, a migrant family takes over the cross. This year’s Way of the Cross is primarily dedicated to the situation of families. In the meditations on the individual stations, very different families report on their situation and the challenges they face: for example, a married couple who have had no children, a family with a disabled child, a widow with two children, or a young married couple.
Now it’s the turn of this family who had to flee their homeland because of a war. Your text is read:
We, who were important at home, here are numbers, categories, simplifications. But we are much more than just immigrants. We are humans. We are here because of our children. We die for them every day so they can try to have a normal life here, without bombs, without blood, without persecution. We are Catholics, but even that sometimes seems secondary to the fact that we are migrants.
Pope calls for peace
At the end, the Pope says a prayer, in which he refers to the families. Francis says that every home whose supreme law is love reflects the face of the Church. And then, without naming Russia or Ukraine, calls for peace:
Take us by the hand, like a father, lest we turn away from you; convert our rebellious heart to your heart, so that we may learn to pursue plans of peace, make adversaries shake hands, and savor one another’s forgiveness.