Pope Francis presided over Good Friday Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, before an evening procession to Rome’s Colosseum on the darkest day in the Christian calendar, which marks Jesus’ death by crucifixion.
Good Friday ends on Easter Sunday, the most important and joyous date in the Church’s liturgical calendar, commemorating the day Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead.
The Pope will preside over the Easter vigil on Saturday and then, on Sunday, he will celebrate Easter Mass and read his biannual “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message and blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.
The pontiff, 87, who suffers from mobility and breathing problems, appeared in better shape this week, arriving at St Peter’s Basilica in a wheelchair as he joined cardinals and bishops for the service of the Passion of the Lord on Friday – Fair Holy.
In previous years, Francis began to prostrate himself on the marble floor of the basilica, but his physical condition no longer allows him to do so. Instead, he prayed silently at the altar in his wheelchair.
The Passion of the Lord features Latin songs that narrate events from Jesus’ arrest to his burial, and is one of the few services in which the pope does not give a homily, leaving it to the preacher of the papal household.
Later Friday, Francis was due to preside over the “Via Crucis” procession at the Colosseum, in which participants walk through the ancient Roman arena holding a cross, reenacting Jesus’ final hours and stopping to pray and listen to meditations.
Francis personally wrote this year’s meditations, the first of his 11 years of pontificate. They included praise for meekness and forgiveness in response to evil acts and prayers for persecuted Christians and victims of war.
The pope, who called for the Church to become less dominated by men, also praised the women who helped Jesus as he carried the cross, and appealed to “those (women) who in our day are exploited and suffer injustice and humiliation “.
In another sign of his attention to women, Francis on Thursday performed the ritual of foot washing, which recalls Jesus’ gesture of humility towards his apostles during the Last Supper, in a women’s prison in Rome.
Source: Terra
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