TEMPO.CO, Rome - Pope Francis led Roman Catholics in Good Friday services under tight security, urging people, including ministers of his Church, to rediscover the capacity to feel shame for their role in the world`s ills.
Francis, 81, presided at a traditional Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession around Rome's ancient Colosseum attended by 20,000 people on the day that Christians commemorate Jesus' death by crucifixion.
Security was tighter than last year, with more checks as participants approached the area. This week, Italian police carried out four raids against suspected supporters of Islamist terrorism, arresting seven people, including one man who was planning a truck attack.
The Colosseum, in Rome's historic center, is one of the tourist attractions in the city where police have set up military jeeps and armoured vehicles to form barriers against truck attacks. Several have also been set up near the Vatican.
Francis wove his comments, made at the end of the torchlight service, around the themes of shame and repentance, conjuring up the image of a modern world where pride, arrogance and selfishness often trump humility and generosity.
Speaking in sombre tones, he spoke of "shame because so many people, even some of your (God's) ministers, have let themselves be deceived by ambition and vainglory, thereby losing their worthiness .. "
Since his election in 2013, Francis has often urged Catholic priests and prelates to live simply, to serve others, and not to seek careers and status in the Church or in society at large.
Good Friday, the most sombre day of the Christian liturgical calendar, commemorates the day the Bible says Jesus was crucified. The Way of the Cross service marks 14 events, called stations, from the time Roman governor Pontius Pilate condemns Jesus to death until his burial in a tomb.
REUTERS
