Two Haitians carried Jesus' cross in Rome this year

In Rome, Good Friday is marked each year by two specific events presided over by Pope: 
1.  The celebration of the Lord's Passion in the early evening in St. Peter's Basilica, 
2.  The path of the Cross Coliseum.  

This is called "The Via Crucis."

This year coincides with the anniversary of the death, 5 years ago to the day, of Pope John Paul II on April 2, 2005. 


Selected amongst the persons responsible to carry the Cross between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill this year were two Haitians along with two Iraqis, a Vietnamese, a Congolese, two brothers of the Custody of the Holy Land and one patient with a stretcher-bearer , a concrete sign of the proximity of the Pope with those who suffer. 

Meditations for Via Crucis have been written this year by a former collaborator of John Paul II, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, who was for many years the Pope's vicar for the Diocese of Rome.  

It was Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the pope's vicar for the Diocese of Rome, who walked the traditional Way of the Cross starting at 21:15. Benedict XVI, who presided over the ceremony from the terrace of the Palatine Hill. 

The cross was recovered after the 14th and last station of the ceremony commemorating the Passion of Christ.