Panama City, Panama, Jan 25, 2019 / 17:28 pm
At the Stations of the Cross for World Youth Day on Friday, Pope Francis encouraged the young pilgrims to embrace the cross and to walk with those who are suffering.
Christ "walks and suffers in all those faces hurt by the complacent and anesthetizing indifference of our society that consumes and is consumed, that ignores and is ignorant, blind to the pain of our brothers and sisters," he said Jan. 25 at Panama City's Campo Santa Maria la Antigua. The city is hosting World Youth Day Jan. 22-27.
The Pope said the Way of the Cross is the path of love, and contrasted it to the common routes of indifference and complacency. He said it is easier to ignore the vulnerable and even add to their inflictions.
"All too often, we have ended up going along with the crowd, and this has paralyzed us," he said. "We have looked away in order not to see; we have taken refuge in noise in order not to hear; we have covered our mouths in order not to cry out."