ROME (AP) – The war in Ukraine looms over the traditional procession of the Colosseum on Good Friday in Rome, after the Vatican’s choice of a Russian woman to share the cross with a Ukrainian woman angered Ukrainians.
In an apparent attempt to quell the objections, when the time came for the two women working in a hospital in Rome to walk with the cross, the ceremony participants were invited to stop in “prayerful silence” and pray in their hearts for world peace. .
The original script, written with the participation of women, spoke of prospects for “reconciliation”. This wording provoked protests from both the Ukrainian ambassador to the Holy See and the archbishop of Kiev.
They objected to the projection of what they saw as an idea of reconciliation, while Ukraine was ravaged by a war unleashed by Russia.
For the first time since the pandemic, the torchlight procession returned to the ancient arena in Rome on Friday night. Thousands of pilgrims and tourists held small, lighted candles as Pope Francis, pensive and dressed in a white coat against the damp night air, sat under a canopy set in a raised view.
At each Stations of the Cross, reflecting details of Jesus’ suffering and death from the crucifixion, a different family walked with the cross, and the meditations they wrote were read aloud.
The women were identified only by their names in interviews with Italian state television Rai: Irina, a nurse from Ukraine, and Albina, a Russian nursing student.
Before the procession, Albina told Paradise that it was important “to pray for the children who are no more, for the soldiers who lost their lives and could not even be buried.” Irina described sharing the cross-wearing as a “big responsibility”.
The Vatican did not respond to the protests. But apparently in response to the valve, the original meditation, which had to be read while they wore the cross, was significantly shortened for the procession.
Meditation says that “in the face of death, silence is the most eloquent words.” Participants were then invited to pause and “pray for world peace.” The two women looked grimly into each other’s eyes for a long moment as they carried the cross.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the text had been shortened to allow people to remain in “silence and prayer”.
Francis did not mention the valve. Instead, at the end of the procession, he prayed to God “to make adversaries shake hands so that they may taste each other’s forgiveness.” He also prays to God to “disarm the hand raised from brother to brother so that where there is hatred, harmony may flourish.”
While Francis denounced the February 24 invasion and attacks on Ukraine as “sacrilege,” he refrained from naming Russia an aggressor, although his references to Russian President Vladimir Putin are clear.
SIR, the news agency of the Italian Episcopal Conference, reported that several Ukrainian religious media outlets refused to broadcast or report on the Colosseum procession this year in protest.
But other loyalists around the world applauded the decision to mate the two women.
In Paris, hundreds of Catholics gathered for Good Friday prayers in the courtyard of Notre Dame Cathedral.
Jennifer Kilgore-Karadek, from the United States, told the AP in Notre Dame that the fact that the two women held the cross together was “a very touching and meaningful symbol.” She added: “I think real people in the real world are concerned about peace. We want peace, we don’t want war. “
The faithful were not allowed into the Paris Cathedral, as it is still under reconstruction after a fire in 2019 destroyed its spire and destroyed its roof.
In St. Peter’s Basilica, hours before the Colosseum event, Francis, dressed in red robes symbolizing the blood of Jesus, was limping down the main aisle for early evening prayer. Francis, 85, suffers from a knee ligament problem.
Usually at the service at the Basilica of Good Friday in the Vatican, the pontiff worshiped in prayer. But this time, Francis, limping in pain for weeks, did not.
Francis sent his official donor, Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, to Kyiv to lead a Good Friday procession in the capital of war-torn Ukraine. Italian state television Rai showed the cardinal visiting Borodyanka, where he prayed over some of the bodies and bent down to touch a partially covered body.
Good Friday is one of the main days for Christians during Holy Week, culminating in Easter, Sunday.
In Jerusalem, where tens of thousands of worshipers traditionally gather in the Old City to visit holy sites during Holy Week, Palestinians and Israeli police clashed Friday at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The place is sacred to Jews and Muslims. This year, Ramadan coincides with Easter, as well as Holy Week.
Doctors in Jerusalem said more than 150 Palestinians had been injured in the worst violence at the site in nearly a year.
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John Lester and Oleg Chetinik contributed from Paris.
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