As has been the case for a number of years now, the Pope comes to the Colosseum for the annual Good Friday Stations of the Cross. Until I came to Rome, I thought the Pope and people were inside the Colosseum. They are not. Across from the Colosseum is a bit of a plateau with the ruins of an old basilica. They set up a tent for the Holy Father there, facing the Colosseum. Because of the scaffolding that now covers 1/4 of the Colosseum, there were able to put a large monitor up to watch the events. The actual procession of the stations goes inside the Colosseum and then back out. This occurs shortly after the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion at St. Peter's. The Pope looked very, very tired.
This year, the meditations for the Stations of the Cross were prepared by His Eminence, Msgr. Giancarlo Maria Bregantini, Archbishop of Campobasso-Boiano. A PDF of the official booklet of the Stations can be found here and the English translations of the meditations may be found here.
