LISBON – In an off-the-cuff speech to young people praying the “Way of the Cross” with him in Lisbon Friday, Pope Francis said the cross is a sign of love and urged youths to reflect on their own sufferings and anxieties, as well as their desire to smile.
Speaking to some roughly 800,000 young people attending the event, the Pope said that in praying the Via Crucis, “You are going to walk with Jesus, Jesus is the path, and we are going to walk with him because he walked.”
“When Jesus was among us, he walked, he walked healing the sick, caring for the poor, he walked preaching, but the path that is most marked on the heart is the path to Calvary, the way to the Cross,” he said.
