Giovanni De Angelis photographs the Via Crucis in an empty St. Peter's Square
Photographer Giovanni De Angelis captured the Via Crucis on Good Friday 2020, which for the first time in nearly sixty years was held not at the Colosseum but in a completely empty St. Peter's Square due to the pandemic. Pope Francis presided over the ceremony, which featured meditations written by inmates and relatives of victims, giving a human tone to the ritual. De Angelis described the silence as deafening, with only the crackling of torches and the cries of seagulls. The cross was carried by former prisoners, doctors, and nurses fighting COVID-19, whom the Pope called 'saints next door.' The event was broadcast worldwide.
Key facts
- The Via Crucis was held in St. Peter's Square instead of the Colosseum for the first time in nearly 60 years.
- Pope Francis presided over the ceremony on Good Friday 2020.
- The meditations were written by inmates, including a murderer sentenced to life, parents of a murdered girl, a boy arrested for drug dealing, and a priest unjustly put on trial.
- The cross was carried by former prisoners, doctors, and nurses.
- Photographer Giovanni De Angelis documented the event.
- De Angelis described the silence as 'assordante' (deafening).
- The Pope called the medical workers 'saints next door.'
- The ceremony was broadcast in eurovision from 1965 and worldwide from 1977.
Entities
Artists
- Giovanni De Angelis
Institutions
- Artribune
- Rai
- Vatican
Locations
- St. Peter's Square
- Vatican City
- Colosseum
- Rome
- Italy
- Padua
- Naples