Vatican. US Vice President JD Vance took part in a large -trinket liturgy

The Vice President of the USA JD Vance with his wife Usha and three children took part in the liturgy of the Passion in the Basilica of Saint Peter on Good Friday. As a delegate of Pope Francis, she was presided over by Cardinal Claudio Gaugerotti.

For the first time such a high -ranking representative of the US authorities participated in this service in Vatican. The vice president is a practicing Catholic.

The homily was delivered by a preacher of the papal house, Father Roberto Pasolini, who said: – On Good Friday, the Church stops in adoration and contemplates God's failure, but his mysterious triumph in a paradoxical form, this cross.

Father Robert Pasolini's homily

– In our time, so rich in new intelligence – artificial, computing, predictable – the mystery of the Passion and death of Christ offers us a different type of intelligence: the intelligence of the cross, which does not calculate, but loves, does not optimize, but offers himself – he emphasized.

He then explained: – This is not artificial intelligence, but deeply rational, because completely open to God and to others.

– In a world where it seems that algorithms suggest what to want, what to think and even who to be, the cross returns us the freedom of authentic choice, based not on performance, but on love – said Pasolini's father.

– In the moments when our lives stops because of a painful sudden event, a serious illness, crisis in relationships, we can also try to rely on God with trust – he noted.

The preacher explained: – When pain, fatigue, loneliness or fear comes, we have a temptation to close, stiffen, pretend to be self -sufficiency. But this is where space opens to a more real love that does not impose, but allows yourself to help.

As he noted, that this would be possible, you have to “give up pride, but also any illusion that we can save ourselves.” It should be – he said – accept the need not as a weakness that must be hidden, but as the truth to accept.

Way of the Cross in the Colosseum

Pasolini's father expressed the opinion that nowadays, “marked by the myth of the result and the idol of individualism,” it is difficult to admit defeat, and in moments of weakness people “clench their teeth in the hope of a quick way out of the situation, felt only as a prison.”

He emphasized: – We Christians choose the way of the cross as the only possible direction of our lives.

At 21.15, the Way of the Cross will begin in the Colosseum, led by the vicar of Rome Cardinal Baldassare Reina. The considerations read at subsequent stations were written by the Pope, undergoing convalescence after a serious illness.