Pope Francis draws fire with plan to include Russian and Ukrainian families in Good Friday “Way of the Cross” procession

Via CBS News:

Rome — Pope Francis’ decision to have both Ukrainian and Russian families carry a cross together during an annual Good Friday celebration this week has drawn a backlash. The suggestive, candle-lit “Way of the Cross” procession, which takes place in Rome’s ancient Coliseum, commemorates Jesus Christ’s last day on Earth.

Readings and prayers take place along 14 stations, representing specific events of that last day. Groups or individuals are chosen to carry the cross from one station to another.

This year, Pope Francis decided to include a meditation written jointly by two families, one Ukrainian and one Russian. At the 13th station, which represents Jesus’ death on the cross, the two families will read the reflection on how the war has affected them, then women from each family will carry a wooden cross before passing it to a family of migrants at the next station. Both families live in Rome and the women are colleagues and friends.

Protests against the format — which critics say puts the suffering of the Russian and Ukrainian families on a par — have been raised from those inside the Catholic church in Ukraine.

Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which comprises some 5 million worshippers, said in a video statement that he considered the idea “untimely, ambiguous, and such that it does not take into account the context of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.”

Via Bloomberg:

Pope Francis’s stance on Russia’s invasion has drawn sharp criticism from Ukraine’s Catholics and prompted fears that angry believers may disrupt Holy Week rites.

The Vatican’s decision to put a Ukrainian and a Russian side by side during a Good Friday celebration is being criticized for equating victims to their aggressors. Ukraine’s top Catholic cleric called the move “untimely” and “ambiguous.”

An internal Vatican briefing described to Bloomberg said that Ukrainians working within the Vatican were disconcerted by the plan. It also mentioned possible protests during the Stations of the Cross celebration at the Coliseum on Friday in Rome, which Pope Francis is due to lead.

The Catholic leader has condemned the “senseless massacre” by Russian troops in Ukraine and the murder of civilians, women and children in Bucha, but he has never explicitly mentioned Russia as responsible for the war. His appeals to end violence in the country have stopped short of directly calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the invasion.

“Sitting in warm chairs in the Vatican offices, they probably do not understand truly to the very end what the war is,” Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, said Thursday of the Vatican officials who organized the Good Friday event. “We cannot talk about reconciliation now when they are killing us.”

Shevchuk said he appealed to the Vatican to change its plans. Ukraine’s government also expressed concern through its ambassador to the Holy See. Some Ukrainians also see the event as potentially playing into Moscow’s propaganda about Russians and Ukrainians being brothers that is used to imply they should be all part of one Russian nation.

Andrii Yurash on X (formerly Twitter): “🇺🇦Embto🇻🇦understands&shares general concern in🇺🇦&many other communities about idea to bring together🇺🇦 &🇷🇺 women to carry Cross during Friday’s CrossRoad at Collosseum. Now we are working on the issue trying to explain difficulties of its realization and possible consequences pic.twitter.com/fIqFeN5TsM / X”

🇺🇦Embto🇻🇦understands&shares general concern in🇺🇦&many other communities about idea to bring together🇺🇦 &🇷🇺 women to carry Cross during Friday’s CrossRoad at Collosseum. Now we are working on the issue trying to explain difficulties of its realization and possible consequences pic.twitter.com/fIqFeN5TsM

Since the criticism erupted, the Vatican has tried to explain the gesture as a symbol of reconciliation and of the brotherhood between all Christians, and between Russian and Ukrainian peoples in particular. Father Antonio Spadaro, a Jesuit and confidante of Francis, said it was important to keep in mind that the pope is “a shepherd, not a politician.”