With this post, I have caught up with the papal liturgies of Holy Week until the Easter Vigil Mass tonight...
Pope Francis says the Cross
is 'God's answer to evil'
March 29, 2013
At 9:15 p.m. on Good Friday, Pope Francis presided at the Roman Colosseum at the pious observance of the Stations of the Cross which was broadcast worldwide.
The text of the meditations and prayers used was prepared by some young Lebanese Catholics under the guidance of Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, Patgriach of Antioch of the Maronites. The images used to illustrate the fourteen stations in the libretto for the liturgy are the work of an anonymous 19th-century Franciscan from Bethlehem.
The torches accompanying the Cross were held by two young people from the Diocese of Rome and two Lebanese youths while the Cross was carried successively by Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the Pope's Vicar for Rome; 2 Chinese seminarians; 2 Franciscans from the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land; two religious from Africa and two from Lebanon; two young people from Brazil (host of the coming WYD), two families from Italy and India, and a handicapped person from UNITALSI, the Italian association that aids sick persons.
[Pope Francis did not join the Stations himself, nor did he receive the Cross, although the media had reported earlier that he would carry the Cross on his shoulder (unlike previous Popes who merely held it aloft before them). He proceeded directly to the papal platform atop the Palatine Hill from where he followed the meditations and prayers, and later delivered brief remarks to conclude the event.]
Here is the Vatican translation of the remarks:
Dear Brother and Sisters,
Thank you for having taken part in these moments of deep prayer. I also thank those who have accompanied us through the media, especially the sick and elderly.
I do not wish to add too many words. One word should suffice this evening, that is the Cross itself. The Cross is the word through which God has responded to evil in the world.
Sometimes it may seem as though God does not react to evil, as if he is silent. And yet, God has spoken, he has replied, and his answer is the Cross of Christ: a word which is love, mercy, forgiveness.
It also reveals a judgment, namely that God, in judging us, loves us.
Remember this: God, in judging us, loves us. If I embrace his love then I am saved, if I refuse it, then I am condemned, not by him, but my own self, because God never condemns, he only loves and saves.
Dear brothers and sisters, the word of the Cross is also the answer which Christians offer in the face of evil, the evil that continues to work in us and around us. Christians must respond to evil with good, taking the Cross upon themselves as Jesus did.
This evening we have heard the witness given by our Lebanese brothers and sisters: they composed these beautiful prayers and meditations.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to them for this work and for the witness they offer.
We were able to see this when Pope Benedict visited Lebanon: we saw the beauty and the strong bond of communion joining Christians together in that land, and the friendship of our Muslim brothers and sisters and so many others. That occasion was a sign to the Middle East and to the whole world: a sign of hope.
We now continue this Via Crucis in our daily lives. Let us walk together along the Way of the Cross, and let us do so carrying in our hearts this word of love and forgiveness. Let us go forward waiting for the Resurrection of Jesus, who loves us so much. He is all love.
The Pope did deliver a blessing at the end, if we go by the photograph, though it does not appear in the Vatican account. However, he also chose this time not to wear the mozzetta and stole that Benedict XVI always wore for the Via Crucis. (I have to check what Paul VI and John Paul II wore, who, respectively, revived the practice and continued it.) Perhaps, Pope Francis does not consider the Via Crucis a liturgical event, the same way he did not think his first presentation to the world was (even if the appearance of the new Pope is preceded by a processional Cross, except for his final blessing. In any case, both the 'Habemus Papam' ceremony and the Via Crucis events are posted on the Vatican webpage of the Office for Papal Liturgical Celebrations.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/03/2013 23:16]