Rome, Italy, Mar 25, 2016 / 16:54 pm
Following the yearly Good Friday tradition set by his predecessors, Pope Francis presided over the Stations of the Cross at Rome's Colosseum, where such issues as migration and the persecution of Christians were remembered.
"O Cross of Christ, today too we see you raised up in our sisters and brothers killed, burned alive, throats slit and decapitated by barbarous blades amid cowardly silence," the Pope said March 25 at the conclusion of the stations in a prayer he composed for the event.
In the prayer, Francis spoke of traitors, arms dealers, and those who destroy "our common home."
"Today too we see you in the faces of children, of women and people, worn out and fearful, who flee from war and violence and who often only find death and many Pilates who wash their hands."