Pope Francis will return to preside over the Way of the Cross after two years suspended by the pandemic

On Friday afternoon, Pope Francis will head to the Colosseum in Rome to preside over the traditional Way of the Cross on Good Friday before thousands of faithful, after two years in which this event was suspended due to the pandemic and replaced by a reduced procession in a deserted St. Peter's Square.

During the Way of the Cross, divided into 14 stations symbolizing Christ's way to his crucifixion, the cross will be carried by different types of families and in the thirteenth step it is planned that a Russian and a Ukrainian will carry it as a sign of reconciliation.

An initiative for peace and reconciliation that has generated controversy among the Ukrainian community due to the current war between the two countries. Albina is a Russian and a third year student of the nursing career at the University Campus Biomedical in Rome. Irina, a Ukrainian, is a nurse at the Center for Palliative Care of the University Polyclinic Foundation of Opus Dei.

The two women, who are friends, spent the months of covid together and assured the press that they share the suffering of the two peoples.

However, for the time being, this has not been confirmed as the Ukrainian embassy to the Holy See had expressed its reluctance.

The war in Ukraine, after the Russian invasion, is one of the pope's greatest efforts and today his almsman, Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, sent to the country to carry an ambulance, celebrated the Way of the Cross in the cities of Bucha and Borodjanka, where hundreds of bodies appeared after the withdrawal of the Russian Army.

Hours earlier, during an interview with the Italian public television station Rai1, the pope had said: “The world is at war”. “Right now, in Europe, this war hits us a lot. But let's look a little further. The world is at war. Syria, Yemen, and then think of the Rohingya, expelled, without a homeland. There is war everywhere,” said the Argentine pontiff.

“The world has chosen - it is hard to say - the pattern of Cain and war is to implement cainism, that is, to kill the brother,” he explained.

Interviewed about the war, about the recent images of lifeless bodies on the streets of Ukraine, about traveling crematoria, rape, devastation and barbarism, the Pope deplored what he called “the Cainist scheme”.

“I understand the rulers who buy weapons, I understand them. I don't justify them, but I understand them. Because we have to defend ourselves, because it responds to the Cainist scheme of war,” he added.

“If it were a model of peace, this would not be necessary. But we live with this demonic scheme, [which says] that we kill each other for the sake of power, for the sake of security, for the sake of many things,” he stressed.

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