Pope Leo's Good Friday service offers prayer for deported children
Source: Reuters
Pope Leo led a candle-lit service with thousands of Catholics inside Rome's famed Colosseum on Friday evening that featured prayers for war orphans and deported immigrant children, and a warning to world leaders that their decisions will be judged by God one day.
The pope, who has emerged as an outspoken critic of the Iran war, listened as an evocative set of spiritual meditations was read aloud inside the ancient amphitheatre to observe Good Friday, the day Christians mark Jesus' death by crucifixion.
"Every person in authority will have to answer to God for the way they exercise their power," said the first meditation. "The power to start or end a war; the power to instil violence or peace."
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The pope stopped at various points inside the Colosseum to hear Bible readings, writings from St. Francis of Assisi, and the spiritual meditations, which focused extensively on social justice issues.
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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-leos-good-friday-service-offers-prayer-deported-children-2026-04-03/