Pope Francis Prays For Abandoned in Good Friday Service Friday April 18,2014

 The plight of immigrants, the poor, the sick, the elderly, unemployed and prisoners dominated Pope Francis' Good Friday service at Rome's Colosseum as he led Catholics around the world in commemorating the day Jesus died

Sitting on a chair on the Palatine Hill just opposite the Colosseum and often kneeling to pray, he listened intently as meditations inspired by the 14 "stations of the cross" were read to the crowd of thousands holding candles.

The solemn ceremony marks Christians' commemoration of Christ's crucifixion on Good Friday. Tens of thousands of people lined the route near the 2,000-year-old Colosseum.

The procession is part of the Church's Easter triduum festival.

The Way of the Cross procession took place in front of the Colosseum in Rome

Thousands of people lined the route in central Rome holding candles

 

Part of the ceremony involved the Pope praying on the floor in St Peter's Basilica

 
 
The procession route included 14 stages, known as Stations of the Cross, at which specially written meditations were recited.
One meditation touched on the plight of child soldiers, while another recalled the deaths of migrants trying to reach more prosperous countries.