Rome (AsiaNews) – On a rainy evening and amid high security measures an account of terrorist threats, at 9.15 p.m., Friday, John Paul II presided over the Stations of the Cross. The event took place during a worldwide broadcast in front of Rome's ancient Colosseum.

This year's meditational readings were composed by Abbot André Louf, a Cistercian monk.  Usually the pontiff carries the cross during the last station, but due to his wearied state and the time of night he remained seated while bearing the weight of the cross in his hands.

After the last station John Paul II turned to the thousands of pilgrims gathering there and delivered a brief address (translation by AsiaNews):

"Venit hora! The hour has arrived for the Son of Man to die!

Every year we go through the Stations of the Cross in front of the Roman Colosseum and by doing so  we participate in that very hour in which the work of His redemption was fulfilled.

 "Venit hora crucis! "The hour has come to pass from this world to the Father." (John 13, 1).

The hour of the Son of Man's excruciating suffering has come, which twenty centuries later, still deeply inspires and calls us (to conversion).  

The time of the Son of God to die has arrived  (cf. John 12, 27) precisely to grant us life, for the good of his fellow men. It is the time in which He offered himself up, the time in which He revealed His infinite love for us.   

Venit hora gloriae! "The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified (John 12,23).

This is the hour in which His gift of love, stronger than death, was given to all men and women throughout time. We stand before the cross where the Son of Man was nailed so that by the power the Father gave him, above that of all men, He could grant eternal life to all those entrusted to Him (cf. John 17,2).

Is it not then our duty in this hour to give glory to God the Father "who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. (Rm 8, 32)?

Is it not the time now to glorify the Son who "lowered himself by being obedient until His very death on the cross" (Fil 2,7) ?

How can we not give glory to the Spirit of He who raised Christ from the dead and now dwells inside us to give life even to our mortal bodies?  (cf. Rm 8,11)   

May the time of the Son of man's death, which we experience this Good Friday, remain in our minds and hearts as the time of His (infinite) love and glory.   

The mystery of the Son's Via Crucis is an inexhaustible source of hope. May it comfort and strengthen us even when our own time has come."

Venit hora redemptionis. Glorificemus Redemptorem! Amen."