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Christians around the world celebrate Good Friday

Some in agony, others in ecstasy, Christians around the world marked Good Friday with prayer, processions and pleas for peace.

In Rome, Pope Benedict XVI carried the cross at the beginning of the traditional Way of the Cross procession at the Colosseum.

He described the procession as, "a journey into pain, solitude and cruelty, into evil and death."

"But it will also be a path trod in faith, hope and love, because the tomb which is the final stop on our way will not remain sealed for ever," the pope said of Easter Sunday, when Jesus is believed to have risen from the dead.

Benedict handed over the cross to Rome Cardinal Camillo Ruini, his vicar for Rome. Other faithful, including a young Congolese woman and a family from Rome, took turns carrying the cross for a few steps.

In the Way of the Cross, "we see not only Jesus' suffering, but all the suffering of the world," the pontiff said in his brief closing remarks.

In Mexico City, meanwhile, more than 500,000 people turned out for the annual Passion play in the capital's working class Iztapalapa neighborhood. Thousands participated in the procession, many lugging heavy crosses through the streets.

Officials said it was the 164th year that the Passion play has been enacted in the neighborhood, although there are references to earlier performances in Mexico City going back to the 16th century.

In the Mexican silver-mining town of Taxco, hooded men belonging to a Catholic brotherhood slapped their backs bloody with nail-studded whips and dragged their shackled bare feet across rough cobblestone streets. Others carried thorn-covered blackberry branches tied across their outstretched arms.

In the Philippines, seven penitents in the northern village of San Pedro Cutud were nailed to crosses in an annual rite that is frowned upon by religious leaders but has become a major spectator attraction. Dozens of half-naked men hit their bloodied backs with bamboo sticks in an atonement rite.

In Paraguay, a thousand tourists traveled to the southern town of Tanarandy where residents carried out the traditional "procession of lights" -- handmade candles and lanterns lighting a path to a chapel through town, adorned by paintings depicting the passion of Jesus Christ.

The calendars of five major Christian faiths coincide with one another this year, something that happens only once every four years.
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