Thousands of Cubans participate in Way of the Cross in Old Havana

Havana, Cuba, Apr 14, 2009 / 18:55 pm

Thousands of Cubans participated in the Way of the Cross through the streets of Old Havana on Good Friday, AFP news agency reports.

Led by Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Havana, thousands of the faithful walked the short route between the Cathedral and the Church of Christ of the Good Voyage, in Old Havana. The Cuban faithful sang songs and prayed as they walked by the Square of St. Francis of Assisi and historic streets such as Amargura Street, named after a similar one in Jerusalem.

The Way of the Cross and other Holy Week liturgies were celebrated in other Cuban cities as well, although there are no holidays during Holy Week in Cuba. Processions were outlawed in the 1960s, but the government began to allow them again after the historic visit to Cuba by John Paul II in 1998.