The Pope presided this Friday. Way of the Cross From a box set up in Rome Palatine HillRight in front of the Colosseum, a thought-provoking symbolic scenario of the first Christian martyrs thrown into the wild, and after two years due to the pandemic.
Families became the protagonists of this Good Friday, crossing the Cross until they finally reached the Pope who recited a prayer. The war in Ukraine is on the agenda, but in the form of discussion. Two women, one from Ukraine and the other from Russia, carried the Cross at the thirteenth station, a reminder of Jesus’ earthly final hours.
Ambassador of Ukraine to the Vatican, Andrii Yurashhas already affected the “difficulties” and “probable consequences” of this move.
Yurash stated in a message on his official Twitter account that he understood and shared. anxiety The “general”, which appeared in Ukraine and in many other communities, gave rise to the idea of u200bu200bto bring together Ukrainian and Russian women who carry the Cross on Good Friday. Colosseum“We are now working on the issue, trying to explain the difficulties and possible consequences of making that happen,” he added.
on his behalf, apostolic nuncio in Ukraine, Archbishop Visvaldas KulbokasIn a comment he made to the Catholic magazine Credo, he pointed out that he would not organize the prayer that way: “Reconciliation should come when the aggression stops. When the Ukrainians were able to save not only their lives, but also their freedom. And of course we know that reconciliation happens when the aggressor admits his guilt and apologizes.”
Along the same lines, the Greek Catholic Archbishop of Ukraine, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, considers it an “inappropriate idea” and “vague”. “The texts and gestures of station XIII of this Way of the Cross are incomprehensible and even disturbing,” he said.
This Via Crucis is also the most crowded event ever held in the Colosseum. 74 peopleIt was divided into 14 families who would carry the Cross from station to station.
around Flavio’s Amphitheater, Named initially in honor of the Flavian Dynasty of the emperors who built it, thousands of faithful but also curious people and tourists who don’t want to miss this spectacle gather each year to commemorate the journey of Jesus of Nazareth to his death on the cross. This is the tenth Via Crucis, headed by Francisco, who will be 86 in December and has never carried the cross.
Reminiscent of Jesus’ last hours on earth and the Pope presiding over a ballot box on the Palatine Hill, Via Crucis XIII. Two young women, the heroes of the station, live with their families in Rome. Ukrainian Irina, nurse in the palliative care center “Together in CareShe is a nursing student from the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Campus Bio-Medico in Rome and the Russian Albina is a nursing student at the University Campus Bio-Medico.
“Our friendship was born in the palliative care ward ‘Together in Care’,” Irina told the Holy See newspaper L’Osservatore Romano. Shortly after the start of the war, Albina felt the need to talk to her fellow missionary. “The look in our eyes was enough: our eyes filled with tears. I always get emotional when I remember Albina starting to apologize to me. That’s when my heart was really broken. I couldn’t console him. He felt guilty and apologized to me. “I assured him that it had nothing to do with it,” she continues. “The word ‘together’,” he explained, “also accompanies me in my work, and we can certainly do a lot together right now. Humanity must unite. try to find peace. and everything that happens.” a solution”.
Jesuit Antonio Spadaro The director of Civiltà Cattolica and one of the greatest experts on Francis’ pontificate commented, for his part, that Francis was above all “a priest, not a politician.” As he stated in his Facebook profile, he is acting according to the Evangelical spirit, which is accommodating even against all apparent hopes during this war of aggression, which he describes as ‘holy’. Ukraine and Russia together into the Heart of Mary”.