The word “hope” and the face of Pope Francis stood out in the coloured signs of over 500 children and youngsters who went down the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem on the morning of Friday 14 March. 

 

The annual Via Crucis of the pupils of the city’s Christian schools, at the start of Lent, was this year also a jubilee event, and an occasion to pray for the Pope’s health. There were also prayers for Fra Ayman, the deputy parish priest of Jerusalem, who was seriously injured recently in a road accident.

 

The youngsters followed the traditional route to the eighth station; they prayed at the others in St. Savior’s Church. They wore white scarves around their necks, with the symbol of the jubilee in the centre of a red cross.

 

For the Pope along the Via Dolorosa

“Today we prayed so that the Pope gets well soon.  We are very fond of him. May the Lord be with him,” said one pupil from the “Terra Sancta” School of Beit Hanina. 

 

The school’s pupils, with one of their teachers, had made a  large drawing of Pope Francis which two children held up. The picture was carried along the Via Dolorosa preceding the cross. Other children had colored signs with the word “Hope” and “Get well soon” and a drawing of the Pope on them.

 

Fra Ibrahim Faltas, in charge of the Custody’s schools, tells us about this initiative: “We know how fond of us the Pope is. We do not forget all his appeals for the Holy Land, his closeness, in particular, to the children. They also know this very well. This is why they wanted to do these drawings, to show the Pope all their affection at this difficult time.”

 

Prayer for peace

For the whole of the procession, one girl carried a cross covered with notes with messages of peace.

 

This is how the Christian pupils of Jerusalem wanted to express their prayer for peace and the end of the conflict which since October 2023 has been going on in this land. “Today we are living in a world where there are many, too many, wars,” the Custos of the Holy Land, Fra Francesco Patton, said, opening the Via Crucis. 

 

“Jesus teaches us that blessed are the peacemakers, the meek and the merciful, not to respond to violence with violence; and that we have to have a heart like his, which is so big as to forgive even those who kill.

 

Education and cooperation, the way to peace

A delegation from the Regional Council of Umbria (Italy) was present, with the President Stefania Proietti, and the Rector of the University of Perugia, Maurizio Oliviero. This was a way to confirm the bond with this land and resume cooperation which, with the pandemic first and then the war, was partially interrupted.

 

“We are here to build up, together with the schools of the Holy Land, a  project that involves more than 50 Italian universities, to create scholarships for the young people from this land,” said the Rector of the University of Perugia. “We want to invest in their minds, their strength and their energy. They will be the ones to give us a better world.”

 

The President of the Regional Council emphasized the “long tradition of cooperation” with the Palestinians, with activities of transfer of technologies and higher education. “We would like to resume where we left off and create a bottom-up diplomacy, through education, investing in young people, creating  paths of hope and peace.”

 

“It is important,” she added,” to resume the pilgrimages: the pilgrimages are possible and generate economy, but also hope,  because the populations do not feel alone. We believe strongly in peace, in dialogue, in condemning terrorism and  we believe in a peace that is possible precisely starting from these young people.”

 

Appeal to pilgrims

Something is moving, with small groups returning to the Holy Land, but it is still not enough. The Custos made a twofold appeal to Christians all over the world: “My appeal is to come on pilgrimages again, not to be afraid: there are small groups that are coming, but it is important that Christians start travelling here again to show closeness to the Christians of the Holy Land and also to give them economic support.” 

 

The other appeal is to “be charitable, in particular through the Good Friday Collection, sharing at economic level, with generosity. If the support of the Christian community is felt, then for us it will not be as difficult to carry on our mission."