The illuminated Colosseum, the image is stunning. Pope Francis presided over the Stations of the Cross on Friday April 15 in front of the Colosseum in Rome. The sovereign pontiff had not done so for three years. A highlight of Holy Week which brings to life the Calvary of Christ, from his death sentence to his crucifixion, his death and his burial, according to Christian tradition. But Stations of the Cross has been the subject of a controversy: among those who have been entrusted with the carrying of the crucifix at each of 14 stations are two women, a Russian and a Ukrainian, friends in life, who carried the cross together.
The 14 stations of the Via Crucis follow one another, first inside then outside the Colosseum, to join the Pope who has not moved. At each station, a young couple, elderly spouses without children, a large family, a widow with her children, or even a family who has lost a daughter take turns and read a text. At the 13th station the Russian nurse and the Ukrainian nurse carry the cross together, as planned, but in the end no words are spoken, while the text initially planned was to address the war in Ukraine.
“In the face of death, silence speaks louder than words. So let us pause in prayerful silence, and let each of us pray in our hearts for peace in the world.”
A silence for more than a minute while the young Russian and the young Ukrainian bring their faces closer to the cross which they therefore carry together, but in silence. The pope, he takes his face in his hands, he prays, no doubt, and all the same concludes the Stations of the Cross with this prayer: “Lead the adversaries to shake hands, so that they can taste mutual forgiveness. Disarm the raised hand of brother against brother, so that where there is hatred, harmony will flourish.”
This scene, thought of as a gesture of reconciliation in the face of the war that has ravaged the country since February 24, has aroused the ire of Ukrainian officials. On Tuesday, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Monsignor Sviatoslav Shevchuk, denounced a “untimely, premature and ambiguous idea, which does not take into account the context of military aggression by Russia”. For his part, the Ukrainian ambassador to the Holy See said “share the general concern”. And the Ukrainian media boycotted the broadcast of the ceremony, while the Vatican added commentary in Ukrainian and Russian for the worldview broadcast.
The Vatican sends aggressor and attacked back to back, a rhetoric of fratricidal war that the Ukrainians no longer support. But the pope wants to be a pastor and not a politician.