Rome: Pope Francis presided over a Way of the Cross procession here in honour of migrants and the victims of human trafficking and lamented that they often find closed doors at the countries they are trying to reach.
On Good Friday evening, Francis presided over the procession in front of the Colosseum, itself a symbol of the persecution and suffering of the first Christians, and in front of thousands of people who had gathered in the vicinity hours before and who attended the rite carrying candles, Efe news reported.
During his prayer, the Pope rejected social injustices he referred to as the present-day crosses of the world, citing among them ‘the cross of migrants who find doors closed because of fear, and hearts sealed by political calculations”, and “the cross of humanity that wanders in the darkness of uncertainty and in the darkness of the culture of the fleeting moment”.
As he has done on previous occasions during his pontificate, he criticised the fact that in today’s societies there are people who are rejected and marginalised.
Francis ended his prayer by repudiating the weaknesses of human beings, their hypocrisy, betrayals, sins and their broken promises.
The Pope arrived at around 9 p.m. at the Palatine Hill, near the Flavian Amphitheatre, and was received by the Mayor of the capital, Virginia Raggi.
It was in 1964 that Pope Paul VI chose the Roman Colosseum to as the location for the procession.
The pontiff will continue the rites of the Holy Week on Saturday, with the Easter Vigil, which he will preside over in the Vatican Basilica, while on Easter Sunday he will celebrate a Mass in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican and then from the central lodge of the Basilica he will impart the traditional blessing “Urbi et Orbi” (To the city and to the world).
