Stations of the Cross returns to Latin America’s largest favela

Caracas, Apr 15 (EFE).- Some 600 people in the Caracas neighborhood of Petare, considered the largest favela in Latin America, accompanied on Friday the traditional staging of the Stations of the Cross by residents and religious leaders after two years of pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The crowds were smaller than previous years, when some 2,000 people watched the performance organized by the Church of Our Lady of Fatima, and few residents complied with the measure of wearing masks.

They toured various areas of the steep neighborhood while accompanying Jesus and his captors on the painful journey that played out the Passion of Christ.

Father Alexis Montesinos, in charge of the youth and theatrical group, told EFE that, like every year, the event was carried out by young people from the community, who had been preparing “theatrically and spiritually” since January.

After two years of Covid-19 lockdowns, “the young people had the need for this contact with the people, to participate as always they do it in the streets,” Montesinos said.

For the teenagers, it is an event through which they can send a message of “love, humility and patience” to those who observe them, said Crisman Gómez, the actor and collaborator of the Church of Our Lady of Fatima – where the Stations of the Cross was organized.

He told EFE that the preparation is not only about acting, but spirituality.

“We do this for the service, for the love of God and also to attract new young people, giving the example that it is not only what the world offers us,” he assured.

Thus, Petare once again experienced the event that has been a tradition since 1986 in the popular area, to which Catholics from all over the city come, this time to ask for the end of the pandemic. EFE

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