Pope Leo presides over his first Good Friday prayer service

Pope Leo XIV presided over his first traditional liturgy of the Passion inside St Peter's Basilica on the afternoon of Good Friday.Wearing bright-red robes to symbolise the blood shed by Jesus, the pontiff laid down on the floor of the church at the beginning of the ceremony.Pope Leo listened in silence to a homily by the papal preacher, Father Roberto Pasolini, who urged Christians to approach the Lord's cross without fear, especially in a time "so torn apart by hatred and violence, where even the name of God is invoked to justify wars and acts of death".