Pope leads thousands in Stations of the Cross reflections
Following his celebration of the liturgy commemorating the Lord's Passion, Pope Francis led pilgrims in the traditional prayer of the Stations of the Cross, which was held inside of the Coliseum in Rome.
"I know Jesus guides us from the Cross to the resurrection," Pope Francis said during his brief comments at the end of the meditations, adding that he "teaches us that evil does not have the final word, but love, mercy."
"Oh Christ, help us to exclaim anew: 'Yesterday I was crucified with Christ, today I am resurrected with him; yesterday I was dead with Christ, today I am alive with him; yesterday I was buried with him, today I am resurrected with him,'" the Pope reflected.
"All together, we remember the sick," the pontiff exhorted the crowd in his concluding remarks, "we remember all those abandoned," and "we find in the trial of the Cross, a force of hope, of the hope of the resurrection and of the love of God."Each year, the Pope chooses a different person or group of people to write the series of prayers and reflections that are read aloud for each of the 14 stations, which commemorate Christ's condemnation, his carrying the cross to Golgotha, his crucifixion and his burial.
This year the Pope picked Italian Archbishop Giancarlo Maria Bregantini of Campobasso-Boiano -- a former factory worker, longtime prison chaplain, champion of the unemployed and fiercely outspoken critic of the Italian mafia.
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