Pope presides over Way of the Cross service in front of deserted Basilica

PanARMENIAN.Net - Pope Francis presided at a "Way of the Cross" service held in an empty Saint Peter's Square on Friday, April 10 because of the coronavirus outbreak and listened as both prisoners and their victims recounted their sorrows, the Mail Online says.

It marked the first time the procession, commemorating the last hours in Jesus' life, was not held at Rome's ancient Colosseum since the modern-day tradition was re-introduced by Pope Paul VI in 1964.

Francis watched from under a canopy on the steps of the basilica as 10 people – half from the Italian prison system and half from the Vatican's health services – carried a cross flaming torches towards him.

Speakers read meditations as the group stopped 14 times to mark each of the 'Stations of the Cross' starting with the first when Jesus was condemned to death by Pontius Pilate to the last when he was buried in a tomb.

The meditations are written by different groups each year and this time they were penned by prisoners, including a murderer, from a jail in Italy, and prison guards, chaplains, and family members of both prisoners and victims.

Francis has often brought attention to the problems of prisoners, including overcrowding, and more recently he has expressed concern that the coronavirus would spread unchecked in jails.

The participants prayed before a wooden crucifix which is normally kept in a Rome church and brought to the Vatican for the special service.

According to tradition, a plague that hit Rome in 1522 began subsiding after the crucifix was taken around the streets of the Italian capital for 16 days in 1522.