Pope Shortens Easter Service
R O M E, April 13, 2001 -- Pope John Paul, forced by age andailment to curtail his Good Friday services for the first timein 22 years, said today that Christ's message was as validat the start of the third millennium as it was 2,000 years ago.
The pope, who looked pensive and at times fragile, made hiscomments at the end of a traditional candle-lit Via Crucis (Wayof the Cross) service at Rome's Colosseum on the day Christianscommemorate Christ's arrest, trial and crucifixion.
The pope did not read the speech that had been prepared forhim and which had been distributed to reporters, but insteadchose to offer a short, personal reflection on the crucifixion.
"With this Via Crucis here in Rome and around the world weare proclaiming this truth for the first time in thismillennium," he said.
"We want to carry this truth about the divinity and humanityof Christ forward into the third millennium," he said.
Speaking on Rome's Palatine hill in front of a huge crosslit with candles, the pope urged Christians to contemplate theface of Jesus in their search for meaning in life in a servicetelevised live to hundreds of millions of people in 28 countries.
First Time He Didn't Walk
The Polish pontiff did not walk around the inside of the2,000-year-old arena as he has in past years, but presided overmost of the ceremony kneeling, praying intensely as other peoplecarried the cross.
The pope, who turns 81 next month, has walked withdifficulty and has sometimes needed a cane since he broke hisleg in 1994 and underwent bone replacement surgery.
He walked and carried the cross for just a few yards during the last part of the service.
Until 1994, he carried the cross around the Colosseum andits ruins at the service each year. That year, he slipped in hisbath in the Vatican, broke his femur and had to undergo bonereplacement surgery.
Today was the first time he did not even walk around theColosseum. The once athletic pope, now a pale shadow of hisformer self, carried the cross only for the last two stations.
Hectic Four Days
Good Friday was the second of four hectic days that willagain test the stamina of the leader of some 1 billion RomanCatholics around the world.
He began the events on Thursday, when he presided at twoservices, including one in which he washed and kissed the feetof 12 elderly priests to commemorate Christ's gesture ofhumility toward his apostles on the night before he died.
On Saturday night, the pope is due to preside at an EasterVigil mass at the Vatican.
Holy Week ends on Easter Sunday when the pope says mass anddelivers his twice-yearly "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and theworld) blessing and message and reads Easter greetings in some60 languages.