Rome and Easter have always gone hand-in-hand and the traditional Good Friday Stations of the Cross, leading from the Roman Forum to the Colosseum, has been an annual event since Paul VI reintroduced it over three decades ago. The ritual, however, with its stop-pray-start routine, is rapidly becoming a real Via Crucis for the increasingly ailing Pontiff. A very big deal for believers, the ceremony attracts as many people as the Urbs et Orbis Easter message in St Peter’s Square two days later.
