The annual Good Friday Stations of the Cross ceremony takes place at 21.15 on 22 April at the Colosseum where thousands of faithful are expected to join Pope Benedict XVI. Known in Italy as the Via Crucis, the Stations of the Cross depict the final hours of Jesus and the devotion commemorating the Passion.

This year the pope requested the president of the international federation of Augustine sisters Mother Maria Rita Piccione, who lives near the Colosseum in the convent of the SS. Quattro Coronati, to prepare meditations and scripture-based prayers to accompany the 14 stations, while a collection of images for each prayer has been selected by Sr Elena Manganelli from the Augustine convent in Siena. The booklet is available to download in a variety of languages including English from the Vatican