Pope shows solidarity with Madrid bomb victims
Pope John Paul II braved a rainy night chill to lead prayers at the traditional Good Friday procession at Rome’s Colosseum, holding in his trembling hands a cross passed to him by a young woman from Madrid, in a sign of solidarity with the city after the March 11 bombings.
The bad weather and the long day were the latest test of the 83-year-old pontiff’s frail health and stamina during a heavy schedule of Holy Week ceremonies amid security concerns in the Italian capital.
Scores of police officers were assigned to the Colosseum ceremony. On the lookout for any weapons, police opened handbags and examined jackets and rain ponchos and waved metal-detecting wands over participants, including nuns and priests.
Dogs trained to find explosives sniffed the ruins of the Colosseum before the procession began.
Towards the end of the procession, which symbolically traces Jesus’ path to his crucifixion, the Spanish woman gave him the slender, lightweight cross to hold as he sat in a chair under a white canopy.
“I felt as if I were carrying the suffering of my country, and it gave me great peace,” said Raquel Rivera, referring to the pain and loss of the train bombings in Madrid. She is a violinist currently in Rome.
Only a few hours earlier, John Paul had presided over a two-hour service in St Peter’s Basilica in which he struggled to his knees to pray and kissed a wooden crucifix held to him.
By the time the Colosseum event was almost over, at nearly 11pm, his voice was hoarse as he struggled to read his homily and bestow his blessing on the faithful.
“The hour of this heart-rending suffering of the son of God, a suffering that, 20 centuries later, continues to intimately move us and call out to us,” John Paul said.
The Pope used to make the procession carrying a lightweight wooden cross, but stopped the practice three years ago, because of difficulty in walking.
The Pope will preside over an Easter vigil Mass tonight, celebrate Easter Sunday Mass in St Peter’s Square and deliver his Easter message and blessing.
