There are no religious festivals in the year in which the Catholic Church displays such liturgical splendor. In Rome, as in the most humble country parish, the Easter triduum - the three days before Easter Sunday - Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, have no less than five major public ceremonies, masses or assemblies. Some are dramatic, completely bare, like the Way of the Cross on Friday at 3 p.m. Others are marked by magnificence.
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Thus, the mass of Holy Saturday night when a big fire is lit outside the churches, followed by a candle procession before the explosion of joy for Christians marking the "resurrection of Christ", which will introduce the seven readings of "The History of Salvation" from the Bible. More intimate, the office of the Last Supper, on Holy Thursday, commemorates the institution of the Eucharist with the ritual, unique in the year, of washing the feet. If the liturgical forms have evolved over the centuries, most of these three holy days of Catholicism, the greatest Christian feast of the year, have always been preserved.
In this sense, Christian Easter 2020 will be an exception in history. Because wherever the pandemic has struck, especially in Jerusalem, these liturgies thought for assemblies will be held behind closed doors. Many will be retransmitted by video but no faithful will be present. Around Pope Francis included. He will celebrate almost alone, helped by a prelate or two in the immense Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. It will seem very deserted that day: can it not contain more than 60,000 people? The bishop of Rome, a highly confined city, will also not go to the Colosseum this Friday evening for the famous Way of the Cross. The “Via Crucis” will take place on the forecourt of St. Peter's Basilica in the presence of the crucifix, reputed to be miraculous, of San Marcello in Corso. And of this exception: two symbolic groups will assist him. One consisting of five doctors and nurses, the other of five prisoners from a Padua prison. At a good distance, they will read the meditations of the passion of Christ.
Francis the reformer
Prisons… François did not go to a Roman prison establishment on Thursday afternoon as he likes to do every Holy Thursday to practice the rite of foot washing with prisoners. As for the Urbi et Orbi message, on Easter Sunday at noon, the head of the Catholic Church will not deliver it from the balcony of Saint Peter's Square closed to the public but in front of the apostle's tomb, locked in the basilica and its very special atmosphere of colored marbles. It will be the last act of Holy Week 2020. Here again, the Pope will be alone, even if he will be spiritually connected to one billion three hundred million Catholics (+ 6% in five years), many of whom will watch him through a screen .
As for his Paschal message, he gave a taste of it in an interview broadcast on Wednesday and given to Austen Ivereigh, English author of a reference biography François the reformer (Éditions de l'Emmanuel) for English-speaking Catholic journals. He explains about this crisis: “We realize that our whole way of thinking, whether we like it or not, has been structured around the economy. In the world of finance it has become normal to sacrifice people, to practice a waste culture policy, from the beginning to the end of life ” . This opens up an "opportunity" : "We must slow down our rate of production and consumption, and learn to understand and contemplate the natural world. We have to reconnect with our real environment. There is the opportunity for conversion. Yes, I see the first signs of an economy that is becoming less liquid and more human. ”
How do I live this spiritually? I pray more, because I feel it is necessary
Pope FrancisAsked how he was going through this crisis, François replied: “How do I live this spiritually? I pray more, because I feel that it is necessary. And I think of people. I think of them: people. Thinking about people sanctifies me and makes me feel good, it gets me out of my personal concerns. ” Stating: "My first concern - at least, what comes out of my prayer - is to find a way to accompany God's people, and to be closer to them." Because “the people of God need their pastor to be with them, not that they protect themselves. God's people need their pastors to sacrifice for them ”.
François also spoke of all those who are fighting against the epidemic: they are close to the sick, they are "saints" . “They are heroes: doctors, volunteers, nuns, priests, merchants - all loyal to their jobs so that society can continue to function. How many doctors and nurses died! How many nuns have died. ” The Pope concluded the interview by encouraging young people to take care, "the elderly, isolated".
