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.
One of the prayers during the procession called for the “fundamental right of religious freedom” to spread throughout the world.
“Lord Jesus, inwardly support the persecuted. May the fundamental right to religious freedom spread far and wide,” believers heard in a “meditation” written by Italian Bishop Renato Corti.
“Men and women are imprisoned and even killed solely because they are believers or committed to justice and peace. They are not ashamed of the cross. They are outstanding examples to everyone,” Corti’s meditation continued.
Corti’s meditation also contained a passage expressing hope for an end to the death penalty, a long-held position of the Church, and went on to describe pedophilia as “barbaric.”
“You have given us immense dignity, you beckon us toward freedom. Free us from all forms of slavery,” the meditation said, in prayer for child soldiers and victims of human trafficking.
In another reflection, a lector also referred to the death penalty, saying: “Our conscience is troubled. We anxiously ask: When will the death penalty, still practiced in many states, be abolished?”
There was also an appeal for the end of all torture.
International indifference
At another Good Friday service earlier in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis heard the Vatican’s official preacher accuse the international community of indifference to the persecution of Christians on Sunday.
Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, whose title is “Preacher of the Pontifical Household,” mentioned the Kenya attack at a long “Passion of the Lord” service, during which the Pope prayed prostrate on the marble floor of St. Peter’s Basilica.
The service is one of the few times the Pope listens while someone else preaches.
“Christians are, of course, not the only victims of homicidal violence in the world, but we cannot ignore that in many countries they are the most frequently targeted victims,” Cantalamessa said.
Cantalamessa denounced “the disturbing indifference of world institutions and public opinion in the face of all this killing of Christians.”
Francis has expressed alarm over the plight of Christians targeted for their faith and has said the international community would be justified in using military force as a last resort to stop “unjust aggression” by the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria and Iraq.
The Pope will celebrate Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday morning. Reports from AP, AFP
RELATED STORIES
Pope Francis laments killing of Christians
Pope washes feet of 12 inmates, 1 infant