Vatican spokesman Joaquín Navarro-Valls today confirmed ZENIT´s report last Friday that the writers are press and television professionals accredited to the Vatican Press Office (see ZENIT, March 15, 2002).
The 14 journalists are John M. Thavis and Gregory Burke (United States), Alexej M. Bukalov (Russia), Henri Tincq and Sophie De Ravinel (France), Angel Gómez Fuentes (Spain), Erich B. Kusch (Germany), Hiroshi Miyahira (Japan), Jacek Moskwa (Poland), Marina Ricci and Luigi Accattoli (Italy), Aura V. Miguel (Portugal), Valentina Alazraki (Mexico) and Marie Czernin (Austria).
Each journalist wrote a meditation and prayer for one Station. The Good Friday event at the Colosseum usually draws tens of thousands of pilgrims.
Vatican sources told ZENIT that with this decision, John Paul II wished to highlight the importance of journalists´ service to society.
