ROME: The plight of immigrants, the poor, the sick, the elderly, unemployed and prisoners dominated Pope Francis’ Good Friday service at Rome’s Colosseum.
The Pope, in the run-up to the second Easter of his pontificate, presided at the traditional “Via Crucis” service around the ancient Roman ruin. The Pope listened intently as meditations inspired by the 14 “stations of the cross” were read to the crowd of thousands holding candles.
One spoke of “all those wrongs which created the economic crisis and its grave social consequences: Job insecurity, unemployment, dismissals, an economy that rules rather than serves, financial speculation, suicide among business owners, corruption and usury, the loss of local industry.” Others spoke of the plight of battered women, abused children, home-bound and lonely elderly, prisoners who endure torture, victims of organised crime and loan-sharks.
“Today, many of our brothers and sisters, like Jesus, are nailed to a bed of pain, at hospital, in homes for the elderly, in our families. It is a time of hardship, with bitter days of solitude and even despair,” another read.
Today, the Pope will deliver his twice yearly “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing and message. On Sunday, April 27, Francis will canonise Pope John Paul II, who reigned from 1978 to 2005, and Pope John XXIII, who was pontiff from 1958 to 1963 and called the Second Vatican Council, a landmark meeting that modernised the Church.
Hundreds of thousands of people are due to come to Rome for the canonisations, the first time two popes are be made saints at the same time and the first canonisation of a pope since 1954.
Reuters
