VATICAN CITY — Pope John Paul II heard confessions from 11 Catholics on Good Friday in St. Peter’s Basilica, keeping up a tradition in a Holy Week marked by security concerns in tourist-filled Rome.
Pilgrims in Jerusalem traced Jesus’ path to Crucifixion, while in the Philippines devotees were nailed to crosses as penance for their sins.
At the Vatican, the frail 83-year-old pontiff was wheeled into the basilica by aides and into a mahogany confessional booth near the main altar. He spent about an hour there, hearing the confessions of five men and six women of various nationalities.
In a taxing Holy Week schedule, John Paul, dressed in red vestments, presided over a late afternoon service in the basilica. The service commemorated the passion and death of Christ.
In the evening, the pope presided over the traditional Way of the Cross service in Rome’s ancient Colosseum. The procession symbolically retraces Christ’s path to His Crucifixion.
John Paul no longer carries a wooden cross during the procession because he has difficulty walking. He will deliver a blessing at the end.
The pope will also preside over an Easter vigil Mass today, celebrate Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square and deliver his Easter message and blessing.
Pilgrims and tourists passed through metal detectors to enter the basilica, one of a number of security measures taken in Rome.
Italian officials said security has been increased at the Vatican, monuments, churches and train stations for the holidays, calling the steps “routine” and stressing there have been no specific threats. Via della Conciliazione, the broad avenue leading to St. Peter’s Square, is closed to overnight traffic during the Easter period — a measure also enforced over Christmas.
In Jerusalem, pilgrims from every strain of Christianity crowded the streets of the Old City, retracing Jesus’ path to Crucifixion.
Groups from Russia, Poland, Greece, the Philippines and Ethiopia followed the Stations of the Cross along the cobblestone Via Dolorosa, or Way of Sorrows, the route tradition says Christ took from His trial to His burial.
This year, Easter Week is marked at the same time by both Orthodox and Western Christians, which generally follow different calendars.
Police and local shopkeepers said turnout was larger than any since the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in September 2000, despite threats by the Islamist militant group Hamas to exact revenge for Israel’s March 22 assassination of its founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin. The threats have led to heightened security around holy sites.
Some of the faithful in Jerusalem worn crowns of thorns and carried crosses through the Old City.
But in the Philippines, devotees in the farming town of San Pedro Cutud were nailed to wooden crosses in a reenactment of the Crucifixion. Some said they were nervous about doing it after watching bloody scenes in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.”
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