Pope laments Christians ‘burned alive, throats slit and decapitated’
March 28, 2016
Pope Francis presided at the Way of the Cross in the Colosseum on Good Friday evening.
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The Pontiff concluded with a prayer in which he invoked the Cross of Christ 30 times.
He began:
O Cross of Christ!
O Cross of Christ, symbol of divine love and of human injustice, icon of the supreme sacrifice for love and of boundless selfishness even unto madness, instrument of death and the way of resurrection, sign of obedience and emblem of betrayal, the gallows of persecution and the banner of victory.
O Cross of Christ, today too we see you raised up in our sisters and brothers killed, burned alive, throats slit and decapitated by barbarous blades amid cowardly silence.
O Cross of Christ, today too we see you in the faces of children, of women and people, worn out and fearful, who flee from war and violence and who often only find death and many Pilates who wash their hands.
He concluded, “O Cross of Christ, teach us that the apparent victory of evil vanishes before the empty tomb and before the certainty of the Resurrection and the love of God which nothing can defeat, obscure or weaken. Amen!”
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Further information:
- Way of the Cross 2016.03.25 (YouTube Vatican)
- Pope Francis at the Via Crucis at the Coliseum (Vatican Radio)
- Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum: full text of meditations (CWN, 3/25)
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