The pope presided over Good Friday's Way of the Cross in the sober and moving atmosphere of the dimly lit St. Peter's Square, far from the tradition of praying it at the Colosseum in Rome.
The large square was practically deserted.
Those who carried the cross included a former detainee, a police officer, and a volunteer who helps in prisons.
They prayed through the 14 stations that evoked different moments from the Passion of Jesus. Some included meditations by a man sentenced to life in prison, the daughter of an imprisoned man, the parents of a murdered young woman, and an unjustly convicted priest.
When I re-read the pages of the Passion of Christ, I burst into tears: after 29 years in prison I have not yet lost the capacity to cry.
Through a path full of shame, pain and repentance, the inmates of the Padua “Due Palazzi” Penitentiary Center described the sad reality of a past that they are struggling to leave behind.
If, for some, I am still Barabbas, that does not make me angry: I know in my heart that the Innocent One, condemned like me, came to find me in prison to teach me about life.
In addition, some doctors and nurses carried the cross, in tribute to doctors and nurses around the world who support the pain of those suffering from coronavirus.
Lastly, Pope Francis gave a blessing to the world.
Good Friday unites all Christians in silence, a characteristic lived out this year before a world struggling not to lose hope.
Daniel Diaz Vizzi
Translation: Melissa Butz
