Pope Francis prays the Stations of the Cross “with and for” the children of the world

Renato Martinez – Vatican City

“Lord, good Father, this year we have also commemorated the Stations of the Cross of your Son Jesus, and we have done it with the voices and the prayers of the children, whom you yourself have indicated as an example to enter into your kingdom. Help us to be like them, little ones, in need of everything, open to life. Let us rediscover the purity of our eyes and our hearts ”, was the invocation that Pope Francis addressed at the end of the Via Crucis which he presided over on April 2, Good Friday, Place Saint-Pierre in Vatican.

St. Peter’s Square

In his prayer, the Holy Father also asked the Lord to “bless and protect all the children of the world, so that they may grow in age, in wisdom and in grace, so that they may know and follow the good plan that you thought for everyone. a. Also bless the parents and all those who collaborate with them in the education of your children, so that they always feel united to you by giving life and love ”.

Children and young people carrying the cross in Saint Peter’s Square

The Stations of the Cross walked by children

As expected, on the night of Good Friday, April 2, Pope Francis presided over the Via Crucis meditation in St. Peter’s Square. Stations were placed around the obelisk and along the path that leads to the atrium of the Vatican Basilica, torches were placed all along the path that illuminated the route, the same ones that formed a large cross light that stretched over the empty square, a stage that reminded us of the celebration of the Global foothold a year ago, when the Pope in an extraordinary moment of prayer asked the Lord to save humanity from the coronavirus pandemic.

Via Crucis in the Vatican

The Stations of the Cross seen through the eyes of young people

As in previous years, the cross which presides over the celebration was carried by a group of young people and educators in charge of the meditations read by the authors themselves. Each meditation corresponded to a drawing broadcast live on television. By entrusting the meditations of the Stations of the Cross to children, Pope Francis invites us to look at the sufferings of humanity – especially in this period marked by the pandemic – through the eyes of the little ones. He kind of asks us to stoop down to look at the world through his gaze.

The Pope receives the cross on the Via Crucis