A Sombre Good Friday

Earlier today the emotional mass state funeral took place in Aquila for the victims of the Abruzzo earthquake disaster. In Italy, the Easter weekend is one of the most religious weekends in the whole year. Here is an article from The Times which summarises the event and the following link is from the BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7993569.stm

The Guardian also reports the following:

"The Catholic service, led by the archbishop of L'Aquila, Giuseppe Molinari, was celebrated by some 100 priests from all over the region. An Islamic ceremony was held afterwards for the six Muslims who died.
The mass began with a message from Pope Benedict XVI, who noted that the shock waves from the earthquake had been felt in the Vatican. Speaking through his private secretary, Father Georg Gänswein, he said that, for believers, Jesus's death and resurrection should be "a wellspring of comfort".
He urged the friends and relatives of the dead to focus on the afterlife to which their loved ones had passed, "that life in which there will no longer be death, nor mourning, nor lamentation, nor distress".
The governor of Abruzzo remarked after the earthquake that the people of this rugged highland region were tough. No one who has witnessed their composure and courage in the days since could doubt it."

Tonight there will be a traditional Good Friday torchlit procession of the "Via Crucis" - Stations of the Cross, at the Colosseum in Rome. This procession will be an especially poignant one for all Italians, in view of recent tragic events.

Good Friday in Pictures
The following pictures from BBC News show how this day has been celebrated around the world.