A Stations of the Cross without pilgrims but very busy today filled the streets of Jerusalem’s Old City, which had remained almost deserted since the start of the pandemic and was experiencing a new atypical Good Friday, albeit with a taste of pre-coronavirus normality.
Several hundred people gathered in the citadel, mostly local Palestinian believers, religious from the Catholic communities of the Holy Land and international residents of the region.
Together, they followed in the footsteps of Jesus’ Calvary, from the Church of the Scourging, which marks where Christ was condemned, to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, where tradition indicates that he was crucified, died, and was buried.
The procession was led by a group of Franciscans, followed by hundreds of worshipers who stopped at each of the fourteen stations of the Via Dolorosa, where they prayed in Italian, English and Spanish.
Behind them also emerged a large group of Palestinian believers who prayed in Arabic and were the ones carrying the two large wooden crosses.
Throughout the tour, they were also joined by dozens of Israeli border police, who facilitated their traffic with multiple gates in the alleys of the Old City, located in the eastern part of Jerusalem, under Israeli occupation and annexation.
Behind these gates, Muslim residents of the citadel and dozens of Israeli tourists gathered, taking advantage of the Passover (Passover) holiday to visit the Holy City and attend the ceremony, and after a year joined local Palestinian merchants, who were not used to the hustle and bustle in which they, like few others, suffered from the absence of tourists.
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Israel has vetoed the entry of tourists to avoid contamination, something that once again deprives Jerusalem of the thousands of pilgrims arriving year after year for these dates.
Despite this, the rapid Israeli vaccination campaign, which has already reached more than 50% of the population and which has almost completely reopened the economy, explains today’s large influx, which contrasts with the gray ceremony of the year. four Franciscans made the journey.
“I am extremely grateful to God for the opportunity to be here in Jerusalem today and live another year of the passion of Christ,” Angela, a Colombian living in the city of Tel Aviv, told Efe.
“It is important because after this terrible pandemic it is that the world has had to live, that we can live a more spiritual moment, get closer to Him, and through this passion ask Him to please enlighten us and help us out of the world. to come… world… pandemic, ”he added.
Those unable to attend this time were many Christian Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and the blocked Gaza Strip, following a reduction in the number of permits granted by Israel as a result of the pandemic, which has recorded spikes in infections in both cases in recent weeks. territories.
Unlike in previous years, when hundreds of Gaza residents and several tens of thousands of West Bank residents flocked to the Holy City to celebrate Easter, this time there were no Christians from the coastal enclave and only 5,000 Palestinians joined from across the road. the wall. at the local community celebrations.
“It is true that this Holy Week is special because there are no pilgrims, because there is nothing, but the local Christians, the continuators of the time of Jesus in this Holy Land, are the ones who support our faith,” Father told Efe . Manolo Lama, 60, a resident of Seville and a resident of the West Bank town of Beit Sahur.
The liturgies will continue tonight in Jerusalem, including the funeral ceremony of Christ in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, ahead of the Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday ceremonies.