Pope Francis' Reflections on Humanity's Suffering and the Role of Women in Faith

It is the entire suffering humanity, burdened with very heavy loads of pain, tribulations, and failures that Pope Francis places under the cross of Christ. This time it is he who has written the meditations that will accompany tonight's procession at the Colosseum: the texts seem almost a prayer, the tone is intimate, the gaze purely spiritual with very few references to the present, to the war chronicles of Gaza or Ukraine. A powerful cry in favor of women who deserve better treatment everywhere finds space. The meditation relates to the episode of Veronica who, seeing Christ exhausted, bleeding, and torn, approaches by wiping his face with a linen cloth. Francis comments, "Jesus, who follows you to the end along the way of the cross? Not the powerful, who wait for you on Calvary, not the spectators who stay far away, but the simple people, great in your eyes and small in those of the world. They are the women, to whom you have given hope: they have no voice but make themselves heard. Help us to recognize the greatness of women, those who were faithful and close to you at Easter, but who are still discarded today, suffering insults and violence. Jesus, the women you meet beat their breasts and lament over you. They do not cry for themselves, but cry for you, they cry over the evil and the sin of the world." Resonating in different points is the reference to those who suffer and are alone. "How many Christs humiliated by arrogance and injustice." And again. "Make me see you in the suffering and see the suffering in you, because you are there, in those stripped of dignity, in the Christs humiliated by arrogance and injustice, by unjust gains made on the skin of others in general indifference" it reads. At the heart of the reflection is the figure of Christ, his power, his example capable of crossing the centuries unchanged to teach love for others and trust in the Heavenly Father. "Jesus, may this prayer of intercession reach the sisters and brothers who in many parts of the world suffer persecutions because of your name; those who suffer the drama of war and those who, drawing strength in you, carry heavy crosses." Further on, "Jesus, we too carry crosses, sometimes very heavy: an illness, an accident, the death of a loved one, a romantic disappointment, a child who is lost, the lack of work, an inner wound that does not heal, the failure of a project, yet another unfulfilled expectation... Jesus, how do you pray there? How to do when I feel crushed by life, when a weight bears down on my heart, when I am under pressure and no longer have the strength to react?" In the meditations at the Way of the Cross, the teaching to nourish faith and never stop having hope emerges. "Jesus, how many times, in the face of life's challenges, do we assume we can do it on our own! How difficult it is to ask for a hand, for fear of giving the impression of not being up to it, we always careful to appear well and to show off! It is not easy to trust, even less to entrust. But those who pray know they are needy and you, Jesus, are accustomed to entrusting yourself in prayer. So you do not disdain the help of Simon of Cyrene." Finally, a passage on hatred, even that which runs on social media, among serial haters and keyboard lions. "Lord, and not even a macabre procession is needed: just a keyboard to insult and publish sentences. But, while many shout and judge, a woman makes her way through the crowd. She does not speak: she acts. She does not inveigh: she is compassionate. She goes against the current: alone, with the courage of compassion, she risks for love, finds a way to pass through the soldiers just to give you the comfort of a caress on your face. Her gesture will go down in history and it is a gesture of consolation."