His Holiness Pope Francis’s Via Crucis meditations: Embrace God’s economy in a world of algorithms

In his meditations written for the Good Friday Way of the Cross at the Colosseum—presided over this evening, 18 April, by Cardinal Baldo Reina on behalf of His Holiness Pope Francis—the Holy Father explains that, faced with inhuman economies built on calculation and algorithms, cold logic and implacable interests, the only change of course is to turn to the Savior.

By Tiziana Campisi

A path offered to every human being—a journey inward, a reckoning of conscience, pausing on Christ’s sufferings on the way to Calvary. In his Via Crucis meditations, Pope Francis shows that the Way of the Cross is indeed the descent Jesus undertook “toward this world that God loves” (Station II). It is also “a response, an acceptance of responsibility” by Christ. He who, “nailed to the Cross,” intercedes, placing Himself “between conflicting parties” (Station XI), and carries them to God, for His “cross tears down walls, cancels debts, quashes judgments, establishes reconciliation.” Jesus, “the true Jubilee,” stripped of His garments and revealed even “to those who watch Him die,” looks upon them “as beloved ones entrusted by the Father,” showing His desire to save “all of us, each and every one” (Station X).

God’s economy

Pope Francis invites us to break free from our own schemes and to understand “God’s economy”, which “does not kill, discard or crush.  It is lowly, faithful to the earth”—and to follow the path of Jesus, that of “the Beatitudes,” which “It does not crush, but cultivates, repairs and protects.” (Station III). Yet it is the “divine economy” (Station VII)—so unlike today’s economies “of calculation and algorithms, of cold logic and implacable interests”—on which Francis dwells. For humanity, Christ accepted the cross, and its weight speaks of the breath of the Spirit, “‘who is Lord and gives life” (Station II). We, by contrast, “run out of breath from avoiding responsibility.” But, the Pope urges, “is to stop running away and to remain in the company of those you have given us, in the situations where you have placed us”; only then do we cease “to be prisoners” of ourselves. What truly burdens us are “selfishness” and “indifference.”

The prayer of people on the move

In his introduction to the fourteen Stations, Francis writes that in Jesus’ steps toward Golgotha “our exodus to a new land” is reenacted, for Christ “came to change the world,” and we too must “change direction, see the goodness of His traces.” Thus, “The Stations of the Cross is the prayer of people on the move.  It disrupts our usual routine.” It is a costly way in “this world that calculates everything,” where “gratuitousness comes at a dear price.” Yet “in the gift,” the Pope observes, “everything blossoms anew: a city split into factions and torn by conflict can move towards reconciliation; an arid piety can rediscover the freshness of God’s promises; and a heart of stone can turn into a heart of flesh.”

Human freedom

Jesus’ sentence of death prompts reflection on “dramatic interplay of our individual freedoms” (Station I). From the irrevocable trust with which God places Himself “in our hands,” bringing a “holy restlessness,” marvels can spring forth: “freeing the unjustly accused, discerning the complexities of situations, countering judgments that kill.” Yet we remain “prisoners” of the roles we cling to, afraid of the inconvenience of a change in our life’s direction. Often we let slip the possibility of the Way of the Cross. Christ, “silently before us in every sister and brother exposed to judgment and prejudice,” challenges us—but a thousand reasons (“religious arguments, legal quibbles,” and “the so‑called common sense that avoids involvement in others’ destinies”) drag us to the side of Herod, the priests, Pilate, and the crowd. Still, Jesus does not wash His hands of it; He loves “in silence.” In Station XI, nail‑ridden, He “shows us that in every circumstance there is a choice to be made”—the “amazing reality of our freedom”—as He attends both criminals, letting one’s insults pass and welcoming the other’s plea, even interceding for those who crucify Him: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”…

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