Way of the Cross: Simple service at Colosseum has global reach

Published: 2006-04-11

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In the shadows of Rome's torch-lit Colosseum April 14, Pope Benedict XVI will lead the first Way of the Cross service of his pontificate. A year ago he had written the meditations on the 14 stations for Pope John Paul II, who was forced to follow the event by television in the papal apartments. This year, the Vatican decided to take special care to help others watching on television follow the event prayerfully. While tens of thousands of copies of the meditations and prayers are given to pilgrims and tourists at the Colosseum, in the past the millions of people watching on television could get the text only by going to the Vatican Web site as the rite was about to begin. For the first time, this year the Vatican publishing house sent 103,000 copies of the booklets to bookstores throughout Italy. And Germany's Herder publishing house simultaneously released a German translation of the text. In addition, the Vatican posted the original Italian text April 11 on its Web site -- www.vatican.va -- along with translations in English, French, German, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish.

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