This year’s meditations on the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum, led by Pope Francis, were written by Italian Sister Eugenia Bonetti, who has worked with victims of sex trafficking for decades.
Crux recently wrote about her background and her decision to accept the invitation to compose the prayers:
The 80-year-old nun, who has dedicated much of her life’s work to rescuing women from human trafficking and sex slavery, was convinced to say yes to the pope’s request after Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the Vatican’s cultural czar, said it was an opportunity she couldn’t refuse.
“We need to have a different Way of the Cross that could remind people how Christ is still suffering today, especially through the work that you do with women, migrants, the people that are exploited, and the children,” he pleaded with her.
“I thought then that, of course, I could no longer say ‘no,’” she told Crux last week during a Vatican organized conference on human trafficking in Rome.
The Stations began with these words:
WITH CHRIST AND WITH WOMEN
ON THE WAY OF THE CROSSForty days have now passed since we began our Lenten journey with the imposition of ashes. Today we relived the final hours of the earthly life of the Lord Jesus, to the moment when, from the cross, he cried out “Consummatum est”, “it is finished”. We have gathered in this place where thousands of people once suffered martyrdom for their fidelity to Christ. We want to walk this via dolorosa in union with the poor, the outcast of our societies and all those who even now are enduring crucifixion as victims of our narrow-mindedness, our institutions and our laws, our blindness and selfishness, but especially our indifference and hardness of heart. We Christians too suffer from that disease. May the Cross of Christ, a means of death but also of new life, embracing heaven and earth, north and south, east and west, enlighten the consciences of citizens, of the Church, of lawmakers and of all those who call themselves followers of Christ, so that the Good News of our redemption may be made known to all.
Read the rest here.
Wishing a Blessed Triduum and Happy Easter to you all!
Image: Adobe Stock
Mike Lewis is the founding managing editor of Where Peter Is. He and Jeannie Gaffigan co-host Field Hospital, a U.S. Catholic podcast.
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