Vatican City, Mar 24, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Popes’s Vicar to the City of rome, will replace the Holy Father at leading throngs of faithful gathered at Rome's Collosium, the once site of massive Christian persecution, now the site of today's 'Way of the Cross' remembrance.
At the celebration that will take place in Rome at 9:15 p.m., Cardinal Ruini will follow the meditations made by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was asked by the Holy Father to write today's Way of the Cross meditations.
In his reflexions, Cardinal Ratzinger calls the centuries old tradition, observed on Good Friday by faithful worldwide, "a path leading to the heart of the Eucharistic mystery: popular piety and sacramental piety of the Church blend together and become one."
This year's reflections note Jesus' words from John's Gospel that, "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." The cardinal unites this idea with gift of life given in the Eucharist-a gift which, he said, could only be given with Christ's death.