A text co-written by a Ukrainian woman and a Russian woman and set to be included on April 15 at a Good Friday procession in Rome was scrapped after a Ukrainian archbishop called it incoherent and offensive.
The participation of the two women in the candlelight Way of the Cross service had already been criticized by Ukrainian officials, with no response from the Vatican, but a decision was made to replace the text they wrote -- a meditation speaking of death, loss of values, rage, resignation, and reconciliation despite the bombings.
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of Ukraine's Byzantine-rite Catholic Church, said the text was "incoherent and even offensive, especially in the context of the expected second, even bloodier attack of Russian troops on our cities and villages."
The traditional Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum became embroiled in controversy earlier this week when the program showed that the two women, who work together at a Rome hospital and are friends, would take part.
The candlelight service consists of the 14 stations of the cross that trace events leading to the condemnation, death, and burial of Jesus. Participants who carry the cross from one station to the next often reflect world events in their meditations.
Shevchuk initially complained about their inclusion, saying it was inopportune because it did not "take into account the context of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine."
Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See, Andriy Yurash, joined the archbishop in objecting to the Vatican’s plan to include them, saying it projected the idea of reconciliation at a time when Ukraine is being ravaged by a war unleashed by Russia.
Prior to the procession, the original text of their meditation of some 200 words was replaced with two sentences: "Faced with death, silence is the most eloquent of words. Let us all pause in silent prayer and each one pray in their hearts for peace in the world."
The crowd of several thousand people fell silent for about as long as it would have taken to read the original, longer meditation.
Francis, 85, watched the procession sitting on white chair. It was the first time the procession had been held since before the pandemic.
In his own final prayer, the pope asked God to allow "adversaries to shake hands so they can taste mutual forgiveness, to disarm the hand raised by a brother against a brother, so that concord can spring from where there is now hate."
Pope Francis, wearing red vestments to symbolize the blood of Jesus, presided earlier at a Good Friday service at the Vatican, recalling the last hours of Jesus’s life on Earth.
Pope Francis arrives to celebrate a Good Friday Mass at the Vatican.
The service is one of the few events at which the pope does not deliver a homily, which was delivered by Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa.
"This year, we celebrate Easter not to the joyful sound of bells, but with the noise in our ears of bombs and explosions not far from here," Cantalamessa said, referring to the war in Ukraine.
Paraphrasing the biblical peace call to "beat your swords into plowshares and your spears into pruning hooks," Cantalamessa spoke of beating "missiles into factories and homes."
Good Friday is the most solemn day of Holy Week, which culminates in Easter Sunday. The holiday falls on April 24 this year for Orthodox Christians.
Francis will lead an Easter Vigil Mass in the basilica on April 16 before saying Mass in St. Peter's Square on April 17, and then delivering his twice-yearly Urbi et Orbi (To the City and the World) message and blessing.
While Francis has denounced the February 24 invasion and attacks on Ukraine as a “sacrilege,'' he has refrained from naming Russia as the aggressor, although references to Russian Vladimir Putin have been clear.
The pope is pressing for negotiations to cease the fighting and bring peace and has offered to go to Ukraine if his presence could further the cause of peace.
Speaking to Italian television station RAI, the pontiff reiterated his pacifist stance.
"We live according to an idea where we kill each other because of the need for power, for security, for many things," Francis said. "I understand governments that buy weapons. I understand them, but I don't approve of it."