At 21.15 this evening, the Holy Father Francis presided at the pious exercise of the Via Crucis at the Colosseum, broadcast live worldwide.

The texts of the meditations and the prayers proposed this year for the stations of the Good Friday Via Crucis at the Colosseum were entrusted by Pope Francis to some families linked to Catholic communities, and voluntary and aid associations.

The following is the prayer composed by the Holy Father, which he recited at the end of the Via Crucis, and the list of people who carried the cross along the 14 stations:

Prayer of the Holy Father

Merciful Father

who makes the sun rise on the good and the bad,

do not abandon the work of your hands,

for which you did not hesitate

to deliver your only Son,

born of the Virgin

crucified under Pontius Pilate,

died and was buried in the heart of the earth,

raised from the dead on the third day,

appeared to Mary of Magdala,

to Peter, to the other apostles and disciples,

always alive in the holy Church

his living Body in the world.

Keep aflame in our families

the lamp of the Gospel

that illuminates joys and sorrows,

labors and hopes:

Let every home reflect the face of the Church,

whose supreme law is love.

Through the outpouring of your Spirit

help us to divest ourselves of the old person

corrupted by deceitful passions

and clothe us with the new person

created according to justice and holiness.

Hold us by the hand, as a Father,

that we may not turn away from You;

convert our rebellious hearts to your heart,

that we may learn to follow plans of peace;

lead our adversaries to shake hands,

that they may taste mutual forgiveness;

disarm the hand raised by brother against brother,

that where there is hatred there may be concord.

Grant that we may not act as enemies of the cross of Christ,

that we may share in the glory of his resurrection.

He lives and reigns with You,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit

for ever and ever.

Amen.

List of families who carried the Cross along the 14 stations

I a young married couple

II a family on a mission

III an elderly married couple

IV a family with 5 children

V a family with a disabled child

VI a family running a shelter

VII a family facing illness

VIII a couple of grandparents

IX a family with adopted children

X a woman with children who has lost her husband

XI a family with a consecrated son

XII a family dealing with the loss of a child

XIII a Ukrainian family and a Russian family

XIV a migrant family.