Pope Francis decries religious persecution

Pope Francis holds a lit white candle as he celebrates an Easter vigil service, in St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican, Saturday, April 4, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

ROME—Pope Francis, presiding at the traditional Good Friday Colosseum procession a day after 148 students and security officers were massacred by al-Shebab Islamists in Kenya, decried what he called the “complicit silence” about the killing of Christians.

READ: Kenya mourns 148 dead in university attack by militants

The evening, torch-lit ceremony at the ancient arena recalls the suffering and death of Jesus by crucifixion.

“We see in you (Jesus) our persecuted brothers, beheaded and crucified because of their faith in you, before our eyes or often with our complicit silence,” Francis said after a traditional Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession at the Colosseum.

After listening silently, often with head bowed and eyes tightly shut, to reflections read aloud about Jesus’ suffering, Francis pressed what lately has been an urgent concern of his papacy—the present-day martyrdom of Christians in parts of the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere.

A few hours earlier, the Pope had condemned the deadly attack by al-Shebab terrorists targeting Christians at a Kenyan university.

“In union with all people of goodwill throughout the world, His Holiness condemns this act of senseless brutality and prays for a change of heart among its perpetrators,” a papal telegram sent earlier on Friday said.

Earlier this year, Pope Francis denounced the murder in Libya of 21 Coptic Christians by Islamic State-affiliated gunmen, saying they were slain simply for being Christian.

And he has lamented how Christians in parts of the Middle East have been forced to flee their ancient communities to escape persecution.

During Good Friday’s Via Crucis procession, a small group of believers carried a cross between 14 “stations” evoking the last hours of Jesus’ life as the Pope looked on.

Among those chosen to take turns carrying the lightweight, slender cross in the procession were faithful from Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, Egypt and China where Christians suffer persecution.

Tens of thousands gathered for the service, many clutching candles in the imposing surrounds of the Colosseum.