Pope presides as prisoners, elderly and homeless carry cross
- 10 years ago
ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
The plight of immigrants, the poor, the sick, the elderly, unemployed and prisoners dominated Pope Francis' Good Friday service at Rome's Colosseum as he led Catholics around the world in commemorating the day Jesus died.
The pope, in the run-up to the second Easter of his pontificate, presided at the traditional "Via Crucis" (Way of the Cross) service around the ancient Roman ruin.
Sitting on a chair on the Palatine Hill just opposite the Colosseum, he listened intently as meditations inspired by the 14 "stations of the cross" were read to the crowd of thousands holding candles.
Pairs of immigrants, prisoners, homeless, elderly, women, disabled, former drug addicts and others alternated carrying a large cross between each of the stations which describe the main events in the last hours of Jesus' life.
This year's meditations were written by Italian Archbishop Giancarlo Maria Bregantini, who has been in the front line in t
The plight of immigrants, the poor, the sick, the elderly, unemployed and prisoners dominated Pope Francis' Good Friday service at Rome's Colosseum as he led Catholics around the world in commemorating the day Jesus died.
The pope, in the run-up to the second Easter of his pontificate, presided at the traditional "Via Crucis" (Way of the Cross) service around the ancient Roman ruin.
Sitting on a chair on the Palatine Hill just opposite the Colosseum, he listened intently as meditations inspired by the 14 "stations of the cross" were read to the crowd of thousands holding candles.
Pairs of immigrants, prisoners, homeless, elderly, women, disabled, former drug addicts and others alternated carrying a large cross between each of the stations which describe the main events in the last hours of Jesus' life.
This year's meditations were written by Italian Archbishop Giancarlo Maria Bregantini, who has been in the front line in t