Way of the Cross in St Peter's Square

VIa Crucis, Maioliche 1757, Teutonic Cemetery, Vatican City

Source: Vatican News

The Way of the Cross with Pope Francis was not celebrated in the Colosseum last night, but took place in an empty St Peter's Square in front of St Peter's Basilica. The procession, marked by torches, went around the obelisk, before heading towards the platform where the crucifix of San Marcello was on display.

A cross was carried in turn by members of the Due Palazzi prison and by doctors and staff from the Vatican Health and Hygiene Directorate. This year, the Meditations were written by 14 staff and inmates, or relatives of inmates from the Due Palazzi prison in Padua, under the direction of Chaplain Fr Marco Pozza and volunteer Tatiana Mario.

The first station, about Jesus's condemnation, was written by a prisoner serving a life sentence, whilst the one about Jesus's encounter with his mother was by an inmate's mother. A priest accused but later acquitted of charges after a ten-year legal process wrote the Meditation about the crucifixion, whilst the one about Jesus's burial came from prison warden who is also a permanent deacon. All the Meditations centre on the bitterness of evil, but also on the unexpected signs of hope encountered in the darkness of imprisonment.

At the twelfth station, where Jesus dies, the procession stopped in silence before front of the illuminated crucifix of San Marcello.

At the end of the fourteenth station, the Pope gave his blessing and remained silent while the choir sang the hymn of the Crux Fidelis. Pope Francis then went back into the basilica in silence.

See the text of the Way of the Cross here: www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/2020/documents/ns_lit_doc_20200410_via-crucis-meditazioni_en.html