Vatican City, Apr 18, 2025 / 13:29 pm (CNA).

Rather than an “artificial” intelligence, Christ’s death teaches us the authentic “intelligence of the cross,” which is the freedom to choose self-giving love in relationship with God and others, the papal preacher said at the Vatican on Good Friday.

Preaching during a two-hour Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion in St. Peter’s Basilica, Father Roberto Pasolini, OFM Cap, underlined how, “in a time like ours, so rich in new intelligences — artificial, computational, predictive — the mystery of Christ’s passion and death proposes to us another kind of intelligence: the intelligence of the cross, which does not calculate, but loves; which does not optimize, but gives itself.”

The intelligence of the cross, he continued, is not artificial “but deeply relational, because it is entirely open to God and to others. In a world where it seems to be algorithms that suggest to us what to desire, what to think, and even who to be, the cross restores to us the freedom of authentic choice, based not on efficiency but on self-giving love.”

According to custom, the preacher of the papal household writes and delivers the homily at the Vatican’s Good Friday liturgy. This year, Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches, celebrated the liturgy in Pope Francis’ place as the 88-year-old pontiff continues his slow recovery from double pneumonia and other respiratory infections.

Pasolini, in his homily, emphasized the importance of self-gift over self-reliance and on surrender of one’s life and suffering to God.

“The expression ‘full surrender,’ with which the Letter to the Hebrews describes Christ’s conduct, could also be translated as the ability to accept with confidence what happens, to take well even what initially appears hostile or incomprehensible,” he said. “In his passion, in fact, Christ did not simply suffer events but welcomed them with such freedom that he transformed them into a path of salvation. A path that remains open to anyone who is willing to trust the Father to the fullest, allowing himself to be guided by his will even in the darkest passages.”

“Jesus reveals to us that it is not strength that saves the world but the weakness of a love that holds nothing back,” the preacher added. “The time in which we live, marked by the myth of performance and seduced by the idol of individualism, struggles to recognize moments of defeat or passivity as possible places of fulfillment.”

In fact, when suffering hits us, he continued, we tend to feel inadequate and out of place. We try to endure, gritting our teeth, but “the last words of the crucified Jesus offer us another interpretation: They show us how much life can flow from those moments when, with nothing left to do, there actually remains the most beautiful thing to accomplish: to finally give of ourselves.”

The Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion on April 18 opened in silence, as Gugerotti processed to the altar to lie prostrate before the crucifix for one minute. The service proceeded with readings from Scripture, including the sung proclamation of the Passion account from the Gospel of St. John.

During veneration of the holy cross, first, a crucifix was carried down the main aisle of the Vatican basilica while the choir chanted three times in Latin, “Ecce lignum Crucis, in quo sales Mundi pependit,” which means, “This is the wood of the cross, on which hung the Savior of the world.” Together, the choir and congregation responded in Latin: “Come, let us worship.”

Afterward, some people in attendance at the liturgy approached the cross to make a sign of veneration, which was followed by the reproaches and a hymn.

The third, and final, part of the two-hour service was the reception of holy Communion.

In his homily, delivered after the Gospel, Pasolini also drew attention to three phrases Christ uttered during his Passion — “I am,” “I thirst,” and “it is finished” — and what they can teach us about abandonment to God.

Pointing out the freedom with which Jesus offered himself at the moment of his arrest, identifying himself to the soldiers, the preacher said this confident surrender to God can be an example for us “at times when our lives suffer some setbacks — a painful setback, a serious illness, a crisis in relationships.”

“How is it possible to do this? By taking a step forward. By presenting ourselves first to the encounter with reality,” he said. “This attitude hardly ever changes the course of events — in fact, Jesus is arrested soon after — but if lived with faith in God and trust in the history he leads, it enables us to remain inwardly free and steadfast. Only then does the burden of life become lighter, and suffering, while remaining real, stops being useless and begins to generate life.”

When Jesus cried out from the cross, “I thirst,” he demonstrated his human need, Pasolini said, noting that “when pain, weariness, loneliness, or fear lay us bare, we are tempted to close ourselves off, to stiffen up, to feign self-sufficiency. … Asking for what we need, and allowing others to offer it to us, is perhaps one of the highest and most humble forms of love.”

Full trust and abandonment to God, as Christ exemplified in his final words, “it is finished,” are also part of the theme of the jubilee year, Pasolini said.

Pope Francis wanted to remind us, he recalled, “that Christ is the anchor of our hope, to whom we can remain firmly united, tightening the rope of faith that binds us to him beginning from our baptism.”

But this is not easy, the preacher emphasized, especially when we experience evil, suffering, or loneliness. Which is why it is important “to accept the invitation of the Letter to the Hebrews: to approach the cross with full confidence, recognizing in it the ‘throne of grace in order to receive mercy and find grace, so as to be helped at the appropriate time.’”

Vatican City, Apr 18, 2025 / 12:05 pm (CNA).

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his family attended the Vatican’s Liturgy for the Lord’s Passion in St. Peter’s Basilica on Good Friday during the first day of an April 18–20 visit to Rome.

On his trip, Vance — who is a convert to Catholicism — will also be visiting cultural and religious sites and meet with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state. He met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday after landing in Rome.

“Vice President Vance looks forward to meeting with Prime Minister Meloni and Church officials while in Italy and is grateful for the opportunity to visit some of Rome’s amazing cultural and religious sites with his family during Holy Week,” the vice president’s press secretary, Taylor Van Kirk, told CNA earlier on Friday.

There is no formal meeting scheduled between the vice president and Pope Francis, who, despite still recovering from double pneumonia, has resumed some informal public appearances — including a short visit to Rome’s Regina Coeli prison on Holy Thursday.

The 88-year-old pontiff, who left the hospital on March 23 after 38 days, also had a brief private encounter with King Charles III and Queen Camilla during their state visit to Italy on April 9.

Vance posted on X shortly before the liturgy on Friday that he “had a great meeting” with Meloni and was “headed to church soon with my family in this beautiful city.”

“I’m grateful every day for this job, but particularly today where my official duties have brought me to Rome on Good Friday,” he wrote. “I wish all Christians all over the world, but particularly those back home in the U.S., a blessed Good Friday.”

The Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion in St. Peter’s Basilica on April 18 was celebrated by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches, who was delegated to lead the service in the pope’s place. Following Vatican custom, the preacher of the papal household, Father Roberto Pasolini, OFM Cap, delivered the homily.

The vice president’s trip comes as the Vatican and President Donald Trump’s administration have traded back-and-forths over plans to deport large numbers of immigrants who entered the country illegally.

The administration has received praise from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for its efforts to curtail gender ideology and government mandates that jeopardize religious freedom. However, the bishops have also sued the administration over its decision to cut funding for nongovernmental organizations that provide services to migrants, which has affected numerous Catholic organizations.

Vance’s meeting with Meloni comes as the Trump administration continues to negotiate trade policies and tariffs with countries around the world, including countries in the European Union. Meloni also met Trump at the White House on April 17.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 18, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Here is a roundup of Catholic world news that you might have missed this week:

Palm Sunday bombing in Ukraine claims 34 victims, including 15 children 

Two Russian ballistic missiles struck the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy on the morning of Palm Sunday, claiming at least 34 victims, including 15 children, as many were preparing to attend liturgies to mark the beginning of Holy Week.

More than 100 others were also injured in the attack, according to a Vatican News report. “There’s nothing left but to turn to the Lord to defend us, because it seems that no other force is capable of protecting peace and life,” the apostolic nuncio to Ukraine, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, told Vatican News Service.

Catholic college in India fights back against allegations of conversion, discrimination 

St. Dominic Savio College in Lucknow, the capital city of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, is fighting back against allegations that it discriminated against Hindu students and violated the state’s anti-conversion laws, according to UCA News. 

A group of Hindu activists staged a protest in front of the school on Tuesday, claiming the institution had “detained some students on the campus with an ulterior motive to convert them” and prevented Hindu students from wearing religious symbols.

In a statement, the school called the allegations “misleading and disturbing,” clarifying that the decision to detain certain students “was based purely on academic performance.” It further noted that two of the students detained were Christian, three were Muslim, and two were Hindu. “This clearly contradicts the totally false narrative being spread,” the college added. 

Abuse report reveals 43 offenders since 1945 in German diocese 

A study on sexual abuse in the Diocese of Würzburg in Germany published on Tuesday revealed 43 offenders, or 51 people total, who have committed abuse within the diocese since 1945, CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, reported. 

According to the 800-page study prepared by lawyer Hendrik Schneider, the 51 offenders found to be active between 1945 and 2019 were found to have committed at least 449 acts of abuse. The study also found that the acts of these perpetrators came to be known by the diocese on average 25.7 years after the fact. The acts of only 12 perpetrators became known within one year. Bishop Franz Jung described the sex abuse crisis as a “permanent wound” for the Church and a “perversion of the liberating message of the Gospel” by its clergy. 

Islamist Fulani herdsmen slaughter 40 Nigerian Christian farmers on Palm Sunday

In a brutal massacre on Palm Sunday, Islamist Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region shot and killed at least 40 Christians. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu condemned the attack and directed security agencies to investigate and identify those responsible. “Enough is enough,” he wrote.

The attack was carried out in the farming community of Zike, located in Bassa, Plateau state, according to a CBN report. The Islamist attackers also looted and burned down several Christian homes, many of which still had people inside. A resident of Zike, Andy Yakubu, told CBN that the total number of deaths could exceed 50.

Catholics in Egypt join pope’s global ‘24 Hours for the Lord’ initiative

For the first time, Egyptian Catholics joined Pope Francis’ global initiative “24 Hours for the Lord,” organizing a full day of Eucharistic adoration and confession from April 15-16 as part of the Church’s jubilee celebrations, according to CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, ACI MENA. 

Held at the Basilica of Heliopolis in Cairo, the event featured continuous prayer, reflection, and music, with participation from various church groups, choirs, and clergy, all united in fostering reconciliation and hope. Simultaneous prayer events were also held in monasteries, parishes, and lay communities across Egypt. Designed as a spiritual encounter, the event was also meant to encourage unity with the universal Church and saw strong participation.

Grave desecration of Christian man in Mauritania sparks outcry

An incident in Mauritania has drawn widespread condemnation after the grave of a Christian man, identified as Suleiman, was exhumed and his body dragged through the streets by locals in the city of Sélibabi, ACI MENA reported. 

The Mauritanian government swiftly responded by dismissing the regional governor and several local security officials. It also launched a formal investigation, calling on top defense and interior officials to uncover the full details. Conflicting reports emerged about Suleiman’s faith, with some sources claiming he had converted to Christianity while others noted an imam had approved his burial due to lack of clear evidence of apostasy. Western embassies have since urged Mauritanian authorities to take accountability and uphold human rights.

Youth project bridges Syria and Italy

A cultural and humanitarian initiative has brought together young members of the Chaldean St. Joseph Scout Group in Aleppo and the Italian secular association Life Paths in a cross-border project called “Yalla Aleppo–Italy.”

Syrian youth handcrafted and decorated 1,200 traditional laurel soaps, each accompanied by a heartfelt message and artwork, before sending them to Italy as gifts for children, ACI MENA reported. The initiative was launched to foster solidarity and creativity, especially among young people in postwar Syria, and all proceeds are invested in furthering humanitarian efforts in the region.

Manila, Philippines, Apr 18, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Every Holy Week, streets across the Philippines transform into open-air stages for one of the country’s most unique and deeply rooted Catholic traditions: the “Senákulo,” a dramatic reenactment of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This age-old practice is not just theater but an opportunity to evangelize people right where they are — on the streets. Families, parishes, and entire “barangays” spend weeks preparing for the street plays, which have become a powerful expression of Filipino faith and cultural identity.

“The Senákulo is more than a performance,” said Brother Elmer Reyes, a longtime director and scriptwriter of Holy Week plays in Bulacan. “It’s a way of catechizing the people. It’s how many come to know the Gospel — not just in their heads but in their hearts.”

Rooted in the Spanish colonial period, the word “Senákulo” comes from the Spanish “cenáculo,” meaning “upper room” — the place where Jesus and his disciples shared the Last Supper before his crucifixion. The tradition has evolved through the centuries, but its purpose remains the same: to bring the story of Jesus’ sacrifice to life, allowing people of all ages to encounter the mystery of the cross in a vivid, unforgettable way. 

The cast is made up of volunteers, many of whom return year after year to take on roles that have become part of their personal faith journey. For many young people, participating in the “Senákulo” has kept them off drugs and gangs.

“I’ve been playing Mary Magdalene for 12 years,” shared 29-year-old Jessa from Pampanga. “Each year, it humbles me. It makes me cry. Because in her, I see my own conversion story.”

“There were moments of doubt, overthinking, and even wanting to give up as I prepared for the role — but the will of God is greater than mine,” shared James Harold Gaffud, who portrayed Jesus in the city of Echague, Isabela. “It brings me sorrow and anguish to reenact the Passion, but it’s an opportunity to express our utmost love and sacrifice, and to commemorate the passion, life, and death of Our Lord. During the Stations, I knew it wasn’t me — it was God’s spirit moving through me, helping me act naturally and express the emotions beautifully.”

For others, playing Jesus becomes a form of penance and personal offering.

“Jesus is everyone’s hero,” said Mark Akino, who portrays Jesus and serves as assistant director in a Senákulo in Makati City. “There’s a joy and blessing I feel after every performance. I really feel every lash and the weight of the cross. None of us are perfect — we all sin in different ways. But for me, this is one way to make up for my sins and say thank you to God for the gift of life.”

In San Fernando, Pampanga — dubbed the “Lenten Capital of the Philippines” — reenactments go much further. Some devotees allow themselves to be literally nailed to wooden crosses in front of thousands of spectators. An estimated 30,000 visitors gather to witness the “Passion of Christ” street plays held in the city every Good Friday.

One of the most well-known devotees is 64-year-old Ruben Enaje, a construction worker who has been nailed to a cross 35 times since the first time in 1986. A day prior, he goes around town carrying a life-sized cross to do the Stations of the Cross with his community. He began this tradition after surviving a near-fatal fall from a building, believing that God had spared his life for a reason. Determined to honor this second chance, he made a promise to reenact the suffering of Christ every Good Friday.

“I told myself, if I survive, I will let myself be crucified for God. That will be my thanksgiving,” Enaje told a local news outlet.

For many communities, the Senákulo is also a moment of unity and reconciliation. Months of rehearsals foster camaraderie, healing of past wounds, and a shared sense of mission. Youth, elders, and entire families bond over sewing costumes, preparing props, and praying together before every show.

“This is our ‘panata’ [personal vow to God],” said Mang Andres, a 55-year-old carpenter who has built the cross used in his town’s Good Friday scene for over three decades. “As long as I live, I will keep doing this for Jesus.”

For the audience, many of whom line the streets barefoot or holding candles, the experience is powerful and emotionally stirring. The Senákulo has a way of reaching even those who may rarely go to Mass, bringing the love and sacrifice of Jesus right where they are — on the streets.

These physical reenactments are considered “penitensya” (penance) or a panata in the Philippines. Many do it barefoot under the scorching sun, wearing crowns of thorns, whipping their own backs with bamboo lashes until they bleed — reenacting Christ’s suffering in an intensely personal way, to ask forgiveness for sins or in gratitude for miracles received. They say they do this to fulfill their “personal vow” to God. While the Catholic Church does not officially endorse these extreme acts, it acknowledges the personal expression of faith behind them.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) encourages the faithful to see the Senákulo as a complement to the liturgy, not a replacement for it. Priests remind communities to participate in the paschal Triduum — Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil — even as they take part in street plays and devotions. 

The faithful are also reminded of other ways to commemorate Christ’s sacrifice during Holy Week, especially through the Stations of the Cross, fasting and abstinence, receiving the sacrament of confession, or “Visita Iglesia,” a Filipino tradition of visiting seven churches on Good Friday while doing the Stations of the Cross.

The Senákulo has been around since 1947 and remains an effective tool of evangelization — especially when it is Christ-centered and leads people to a deeper conversion. While the life story of Jesus is often read or heard within church walls or classrooms, the Senákulo brings his story to life in the public square.

“It’s not just a play,” said 26-year old Paula, who watches every year. “It’s the Gospel — and it’s alive, right here on our streets.”

Rome Newsroom, Apr 18, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Good Friday liturgy commemorates the apex of Christ’s passion with a remembrance of his crucifixion and death at Calvary. 

The Good Friday Reproaches are a series of antiphons, known also as the “Improperia” or “Popule Meus” (“My People”), coming from the opening lines of the Latin text of the recitation. 

Dating back to the ninth century, though not gaining a permanent place in the Roman orders until the 14th century, the Good Friday Reproaches have long been an essential part of the Roman liturgy. But they largely disappeared from many parishes following the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

The antiphons have, however, retained their prominence at the Vatican — and are normally chanted by the Sistine Chapel Choir during the Good Friday service in St. Peter’s Basilica.

In the moment leading up to the dramatic recitation, the priest chants three times, in an increasing pitch, “Ecce lignum crucis,” or “Behold the wood of the cross,” each time gradually unveiling the cross that hitherto has been covered in a purple veil. 

Once the crucifix is placed in a central location at the edge of the sanctuary, cast against a bare altar, the faithful are invited to kneel before — and kiss — it, a powerful remembrance of Christ’s passion but also a recognition of the cross as an instrument of salvation. 

During the adoration of the cross, the Good Friday Reproaches are chanted in an alternating manner between a cantor and choir. It opens: “Popule meus, quid feci tibi? Aut in quo contristavi te? Responde mihi” (“My people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me”).

This hauntingly sorrowful and beautiful text is followed by the first reproach: “Quia eduxi te de terra Aegypti: parasti crucem Salvatori tuo” (“Because I led thee out of the land of Egypt: thou hast prepared a cross for thy Savior”), showcasing the world’s fatal rejection of Christ despite his love and saving acts.

The following is the full text of the reproaches:

Popule meus, quid feci tibi?
Aut in quo contristavi te?
Responde mihi.
(O my people, what have I done to thee?
Or how have I offended you?
Answer me.)

Quia eduxi te de terra Aegypti:
parasti crucem Salvatori tuo.
(Because I led thee out of the land of Egypt:
thou hast prepared a cross for thy Savior.)

Hagios o Theos.
Sanctus Deus.
Hagios Ischyros.
Sanctus fortis.
Hagios Athanatos, eleison himas.
Sanctus immortalis, miserere nobis.
(O holy God!
O holy God!
O holy strong One!
O holy strong One!
O holy and immortal, have mercy upon us.
O holy and immortal, have mercy upon us.)

Quia eduxi te per desertum quadraginta annis:
et manna cibavi te, et introduxi te in terram satis bonam:
parasti crucem Salvatori tuo.
Hagios . . .
(Because I led thee through the desert for forty years:
and fed thee with manna, and brought thee into a land exceeding good:
Thou hast prepared a cross for thy Savior.
O holy God! . . .)

Quid ultra debui facere tibi, et non feci?
Ego quidem plantavi te vineam meam speciosissimam:
et tu facta es mihi nimis amara:
aceto namque sitim meam potasti:
et lancea perforasti latus Salvatori tuo.
Hagios . . .
(What more ought I to have done for thee, that I have not done?
I planted thee, indeed, my most beautiful vineyard:
and thou hast become exceeding bitter to me:
for in my thirst thou gavest me vinegar to drink:
and with a spear thou hast pierced the side of thy Savior.
O holy God! . . .)

Ego propter te flagellavi Aegyptum cum primogenitis suis:
et tu me flagellatum tradidisti.
Popule meus . . .
(For thy sake I scourged the firstborn of Egypt:
Thou hast given me up to be scourged.
O my people . . .)

Ego te eduxi de Aegypto, demerso Pharone in mare Rubrum:
et tu me tradidisti principibus sacerdotum.
Popule meus . . .
(I led thee out of Egypt, having drowned Pharaoh in the Red Sea:
and thou hast delivered me to the chief priests.
O my people . . .)

Ego ante te aperui mare:
et tu aperuisti lancea latus meum.
Popule meus . . .
(I opened the sea before thee:
and thou hast opened my side with a spear.
O my people . . .)

Ego ante te praeivi in columna nubis:
et tu me duxisti ad praetorium Pilati.
Popule meus . . .
(I went before thee in a pillar of cloud:
and thou hast led me to the judgment hall of Pilate.
O my people . . .)

Ego te pavi manna in desertum:
et tu me cedisti alapis et flagellis.
Popule meus . . .
(I fed thee with manna in the desert:
and thou hast assaulted me with blows and scourges.
O my people . . .)

Ego te potavi aqua salutis de petra:
et tu me potasti felle et aceto.
Popule meus . . .
(I gave thee the water of salvation from the rock:
and thou hast given me gall and vinegar to drink.
O my people . . .)

Ego propter te Chananeorum reges percussi:
et tu percussisti arundine caput meum.
Popule meus . . .
(For thy sake I struck the kings of the Canaanites:
and thou hast struck my head with a reed.
O my people . . .)

Ego dedi tibi sceptrum regale:
et tu dedisti capiti meo spineam coronam.
Popule meus . . .
(I gave thee a royal scepter:
and thou hast given a crown of thorns for my head.
O my people . . .)

Ego te exaltavi magna virtute:
et tu me suspendisti in patibulo crucis.
Popule meus . . .
(I exalted thee with great strength:
and thou hast hanged me on the gibbet of the cross.
O my people . . .)

This story was first published on Good Friday 2024 and has been updated.

Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti presides over the solemn liturgy of the Lord's Passion on Good Friday in St. Peter's Basilica, as Pope Francis' delegate, and Fr. Roberto Pasolini, OFM Cap, the Preacher of the Pontifical Household, underscores in his sermon that 'Christ is the anchor of our hope.'

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Jerusalem, Apr 18, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A stone quarry outside the walls of Jerusalem, later abandoned and converted into a cemetery with rock-cut tombs and cultivated areas — that’s what the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher looked like at the time of Jesus.

Ongoing archaeological excavations inside the basilica, however, launched in 2022 as part of a major restoration project of the floor and underlying infrastructure, have yielded significant data on the site’s original use and appearance.

Professor Francesca Romana Stasolla of Sapienza University of Rome, who is directing the excavation, confirmed to CNA: “We have documented both funerary and agricultural use prior to Hadrian’s restructuring (around A.D. 130–136), and paleobotanical analyses have revealed the presence of plants such as olive and grapevine.”

Just days before Easter, Stasolla guided CNA through the Holy Sepulcher, offering insights into the history, traditions, and archaeology of one of the world’s most sacred Christian sites.

A long history

“This place, first of all, tells the long history of Jerusalem,” she began. “The process of Christianization is only part of that story, woven into the broader events of this city.”

The excavations have taken the team of archaeologists back in time “as far as the Iron Age” (circa 1300 B.C.), when the area was “a quarrying environment outside the city walls.”

“There was a hill here,” Stasolla explained, “part of which was excavated to create a quarry. Today’s basilica sits within that depression.”

Calvary — the rocky spur now enclosed within the basilica — was incorporated into the Holy Sepulcher during the Crusader period. It is accessed by a staircase to the right of the entrance.

“Calvary was elevated above the depression created by quarrying,” Stasolla said. In some places, the quarry floor reached depths of 25 to 30 meters (about 80 to 100 feet).

According to Christian tradition, this is the place where Jesus was crucified alongside two criminals (cf. Luke 23:33). Today, two chapels — one Catholic and the other Greek Orthodox — stand atop Calvary, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Christ.

A portion of the rock is visible along the basilica’s ambulatory and at the top through a glass panel in the Greek Orthodox chapel. Visitors can also touch the Calvary rock through an opening beneath the altar — believed to mark the exact location of Jesus’ crucifixion.

“As the quarry was gradually abandoned,” Stasolla noted, “it was reused for funerary purposes, with tombs carved into the rock.”

Some areas were “terraced with dry-stone walls for cultivation, a common use of abandoned quarries that could easily coexist with burial practices,” she pointed out.

Built by faith

While certain findings may seem to support the Gospel narratives, Stasolla urged caution: “That kind of reasoning is misleading,” she said. 

“Scientific research provides data. Interpretation comes afterward. As archaeologists, we are responsible for offering a historical interpretation — but there is also a personal, subjective interpretation.”

“What I find misleading is the attempt to base reasons that are purely matters of faith trying to substantiate it with scientific data. From my point of view, this does a disservice both to faith and to history.”

The Holy Sepulcher, beginning in the Constantinian period, “was built by the faith of those who believed, and it continues to live by the faith of those who believe today,” Stasolla said.

“The historical fact is that over the centuries there has been a journey of faith — of one community, of several communities, of many people — that produced an architecture and generated a range of cultural and economic phenomena. From this perspective, the faith of those who believed has shaped history.”

The edicule of the Holy Sepulchre, which encloses the venerated tomb, stands at the heart of this history.

In the early second century, Roman Emperor Hadrian founded the colony of Aelia Capitolina, incorporating the area where the basilica now stands within the city. At that time, the quarry was filled in to level it with the surrounding urban landscape.

In the early fourth century, under Emperor Constantine, the area was completely transformed. “A large-scale monumentalization of the tomb, Calvary, and the connecting courtyards was initiated,” Stasolla explained.

“In front of the edicule, the excavations have yielded strong confirmation of this,” she continued.

“We documented an extensive operation to remove rock around the tomb, creating a small monument that covered it from the outside. We also found traces of a colonnade surrounding the tomb — still open to the air. Only at the end of the fourth century did the structure begin to resemble the one we see today.”

Over the centuries, the Holy Sepulcher has undergone destruction and restoration. In the 12th century, under Crusader rule, a major restoration gave the building its current layout.

One of the most venerated features of the basilica — the Stone of Anointing in front of the entrance — dates back to this period.

The stone commemorates the preparation of Jesus’ body with oils and balms before burial. However, Stasolla clarified, “we know that the body would have been prepared in the antechamber of the burial chamber.”

In the case of the venerated tomb, that corresponds to what is today known as the Chapel of the Angel — the small space inside the edicule just before the burial chamber.

Despite this historical inaccuracy, hundreds of faithful — especially from the Orthodox tradition — bow down each day to kiss and anoint the stone.

On the evening of Good Friday — for both Catholic and Orthodox — the rite of preparing Jesus’ body for burial is reenacted on this stone during the so-called “funeral procession.”

Today, three communities — Greek Orthodox, Latin Catholic, and Armenian — share custody of the Holy Sepulcher. This year they will celebrate Easter on the same day, in the same space, in a layered interplay of rites, songs, and traditions — while adhering to the ancient Status Quo, the agreement that governs every movement within the basilica.

Stasolla and her team have spent the past three years working inside the Holy Sepulcher, often including overnight shifts when necessary. They occupy a modest room behind the edicule, which serves as an office, workspace, meeting room, and even a break room when needed. There is always coffee — offered not only to the archaeologists but also to workers, friars, monks, and curious passersby.

Their contact with representatives of the three communities is nearly constant, since every intervention must be agreed upon collectively, and every result is shared.

“What we’ve experienced, really, is a great sense of welcome from everyone,” Stasolla said. “We’ve encountered hospitality — but also diversity. The fact that these two things can coexist is deeply meaningful and gives us much to reflect on.”

In a country where more than 3,100 Christians were killed in 2024, the testimony of a Nigerian priest sheds light on the daily trials and deep faith of Christians in the southeast region.

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ROME (CNS) -- Today's "builders of Babel" are constructing a hell on earth, rejecting everyone they decide are "losers," Pope Francis wrote in the meditations for the Way of the Cross.

"Your way, Jesus, is the way of the Beatitudes. It does not crush, but cultivates, repairs and protects," the pope wrote for the nighttime ceremony April 18 in Rome's Colosseum.

"Today's builders of Babel tell us that there is no room for losers, and that those who fall along the way are losers. Theirs is the construction site of hell," he wrote. "God's economy, on the other hand, does not kill, discard or crush. It is lowly, faithful to the earth."

Each year, the pope usually chooses a different person or group of people to write the series of prayers and reflections that are read aloud for each of the 14 stations, which commemorate Christ's condemnation, his carrying the cross to Golgotha, his crucifixion and his burial. However, the pope himself wrote the commentaries and prayers for the Holy Year this year like he did for last year's Year of Prayer. 

For the third year in a row, Pope Francis was scheduled to follow the nighttime Way of the Cross service from his Vatican residence for health reasons as an expected 25,000 people gathered outside the ancient amphitheater.

Cardinal Baldassare Reina, papal vicar of Rome, was designated to fill in for the pope, presiding over the Good Friday ceremony and offering the final blessing at the end. Representatives of different groups were to take turns carrying a bare wooden cross, including: migrants, young people, people with disabilities, volunteers, charity workers, educators and members of "Ordo Viduarum," a group of widows who serve the church.

The pope's commentaries and prayers this year looked at how "the road to Calvary passes through the streets we tread each day."

Jesus came to change the world and, "for us, that means changing direction, seeing the goodness of your path, letting the memory of your glance transform our hearts," he wrote in his introduction.

"We need only hear his invitation: 'Come! Follow me!' And trust in that gaze of love," and from there "everything blossoms anew," he wrote, and places torn by conflict can move toward reconciliation, and "a heart of stone can turn into a heart of flesh." 

For the first station, "Jesus is condemned to death," the pope highlighted how Jesus respects human freedom and trusts everyone by placing himself "in our hands."

Pilate could have freed Jesus, but "he chose not to," the pope wrote, asking the faithful to reflect on how "we have been prisoners of the roles we choose to continue playing, fearful of the challenge of a change in the direction of our lives."

"We can learn marvelous lessons from this: how to free those unjustly accused, how to acknowledge the complexity of situations, how to protest lethal judgments," the pope wrote, because it is Jesus who is "silently standing before us, in every one of our sisters and brothers exposed to judgment and bigotry."

"Religious disputes, legal quibbles, the so-called common sense that keeps us from getting involved in the fate of others: a thousand reasons drag us to the side of Herod, the priests, Pilate and the crowd. Yet, it could be otherwise," he wrote.

For the second station, "Jesus carries his cross," the pope wrote that the bigger burden is trying to avoid the cross and evade responsibility.

"All we need to do," he wrote, "is to stop running away and to remain in the company of those you have given us, to bind ourselves to them, recognizing that only in this way can we stop being prisoners of ourselves." 

"Selfishness burdens us more than the cross. Indifference burdens us more than sharing," the pope wrote.

For the seventh station, "Jesus falls the second time," the pope underlined how Jesus was not afraid to stumble and fall.

"All those who are embarrassed by this, those who want to appear infallible, who hide their own falls yet refuse to pardon those of others, reject the path that you chose," he wrote.

"In you, all of us were found and brought home, like the one sheep that had gone astray," his meditation said.

"An economy in which the ninety-nine are more important than the one is inhumane. Yet we have built a world that works like that: a world of calculation and algorithms, of cold logic and implacable interests," he wrote.

However, he wrote, "when we turn our hearts to you, who fall and rise again, we experience a change of course and a change of pace. A conversion that restores our joy and brings us safely home."

In his prayer for the 11th station, "Jesus is nailed to the cross," the pope asked that people pray to God to "teach us to love" when "we are bound by unjust laws or decisions," when "we are at odds with those uninterested in truth and justice, and when everyone says, "There is nothing to be done."

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Jesus, who redeemed humanity by giving up his life on the cross, shows that it is not strength that saves the world, but the "weakness" of boundless love, the papal preacher told thousands of people gathered for the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion, including U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

Today's world, which is "marked by the myth of performance and seduced by the idol of individualism, struggles to recognize moments of defeat or passivity as possible places of fulfillment," Capuchin Father Roberto Pasolini, preacher of the papal household, said in his homily April 18 in St. Peter's Basilica.

The Good Friday service, which commemorates Christ's passion and death on the cross, was presided over by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches. But, following tradition, the homily was delivered by the preacher of the papal household.

Pope Francis, who was not present at the service, had asked different cardinals to lead the different liturgical events over Holy Week and Easter as he continues to recover from double pneumonia and a lengthy hospitalization. 

Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, attended the liturgy with his wife, Usha, a practicing Hindu, and his three children after meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni earlier in the day. He was in Rome for private talks with Italian and Vatican officials; he was scheduled to meet with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, April 19.

In a post on X April 18 before the liturgy, the vice president said, "I'm grateful every day for this job, but particularly today where my official duties have brought me to Rome on Good Friday."

"I had a great meeting with Prime Minister Meloni and her team, and will head to church soon with my family in this beautiful city. I wish all Christians all over the world, but particularly those back home in the US, a blessed Good Friday. He died so that we might live," Vance wrote.

In his homily, Father Pasolini said that Jesus, nailed to the cross and stripped of everything, "chooses to give us his life and his Spirit entirely. It is not a passive surrender, but an act of supreme freedom, accepting weakness as the place where love can become full."

"It is not autonomy or great feats that give meaning to life, but the ability to transform limitations into an opportunity for giving. With this gesture, Jesus reveals to us that it is not strength that saves the world, but the weakness of love that holds nothing back and surrenders itself," he said. 

The priest explained the importance of contemplating and venerating the cross during the liturgy as an opportunity to renew one's trust "in the way God chose to save the world" and in recognizing the cross is "the only possible direction of our lives."

"We know well that our strength will not be sufficient to accomplish this journey, but the Holy Spirit, who has already filled our hearts with sweet hope, will come to the aid of our weakness to remind us of the most important thing: Just as we have been loved, so we will be able to love -- friends and even enemies," he said.

"When pain, fatigue, loneliness or fear lay us bare, we are all tempted to shut down, to stiffen up, to feign self-sufficiency," he said. Yet it is during those moments that the truest love becomes possible, when one does not impose oneself, but allows oneself to be helped.

"Asking for what we need, and allowing others to offer it to us, is perhaps one of the highest and most humble forms of love," Father Pasolini said.

"To do so, we need only to abandon all pride, but also all illusions that we can save ourselves with our own strength. And to recognize that we cannot, and, above all, do not want to live all on our own," he said.

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Reporting by CNS Rome is made possible by the Catholic Communication Campaign. Give to the CCC special collection in your diocese May 10-11 or any time at: https://bit.ly/CCC-give