This year again, on the morning of Good Friday, the Franciscan friars of the Custody of the Holy Land went down the streets of Jerusalem following in the footsteps of the Lord, in the traditional Via Crucis along the Via Dolorosa. The moment of prayer was led by the Custos of the Holy Land, Fra Francesco Patton.
The procession started from the school opposite the Shrine of the Flagellation and followed the stations of the Passion of Jesus Christ from the condemnation to burial. The procession came to an end in front of the Edicule in the Holy Sepulchre.
Despite the difficulties related to the situation of the country, numerous local faithful and small groups of lay pilgrims and religious joined the friars on the way of the Passion.
This year, the Via Crucis is intertwined in a very particular way with the celebration of the Orthodox Churches. After eight years, the Catholic and the Orthodox Easters coincide and the streets of Jerusalem were crowded with pilgrims of different Christian confessions, who have come from all over the world to live the holy days in the places of the passion, the death and the resurrection of Christ.
Following in the steps of the grief and love that marked the last hours of Jesus, the Via Crucis of Good Friday in Jerusalem continues to be a profound gesture of faith, which accompanies believers of all over the world in the mystery of the Cross, preparing the heart for the joy of the Resurrection.
Lucia Borgato
