Every Easter, with the obvious exceptions of this year and last year, one of the most compelling images on Holy Week is the one that comes from the Colosseum in Rome, where so many Christians were slaughtered for their faith by the Roman Pagans.
On Good Friday, the pope normally leads the Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross, in a beautiful ceremony that goes back to the 18th century under Pope Benedict XIV. It was renewed in popularity after Pope Paul VI made it an official event in 1964.
Pope Paul VI 1964
The event took on immense Global significance under Pope John Paul II, who turned the Stations of the Cross from the Colosseum into an important focal point for Holy Week. During his years of good health, Pope John Paul II would carry the cross from station to station but as his health deteriorated, he would watch from above.
Pope Benedict’s involvement with the Way of the Cross coincided with the rise of Youtube and other digital mediums, which gave us some of the most compelling videos of the event, featuring the Cross adorned with flames and the crimson laden backdrop of the Colosseum, washed clean and holy with the martyrs who watered the seeds of the Mystical Body of Christ, laid by their Saviour at Calvary centuries earlier.
In 2020, with the Lockdown crisis underway across Europe, Pope Francis famously took part in the Stations alone in St. Peter’s Square last year.
Although we cannot be with the pope in Rome this year for the Via Crucis, these videos can remind us of how beautiful our faith is and how beautiful the public expressions of them are.