Worldwide Processions Mark Good Friday : Religion: Pope enlists help of three women to carry wooden cross. Large crowds gather for Jerusalem ritual.

Thousands of Christians, some lugging heavy wooden crosses, others video cameras, marched through Jerusalem’s walled Old City on Good Friday to retrace Christ’s steps toward crucifixion.

Around the globe, Christians observed the day in contemplation and prayer, while in Rome a limping Pope John Paul II invited three women to help him carry a wooden cross in the Vatican’s Good Friday procession.

It was the first time that the Pope did not carry the cross himself over the entire half-mile circuit around the Colosseum. And it was the first time that women were brought into the procession.

In Jerusalem, pilgrims and brown-robed monks passed along the Via Dolorosa, or Way of Sorrow, kneeling in prayer at the 14 stations marking Christ’s suffering.

They converged at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the reputed site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial and resurrection. Latin canticles sung by Franciscan monks mixed with a cacophony of hymns in a multitude of languages, echoing through the cavernous church.

“Praise the Lord. Let Christ be risen,” sang out a group of Palestinian Christians. “This is where Jesus fell. Ours is the suffering he bore. Ours the suffering he carried.”

This year’s ritual came amid heightened tension after a wave of attacks on Israelis by Islamic militants. Israel sealed off the West Bank and Gaza Strip to prevent violence, which meant only a few hundred Palestinian Christians with special permits reached Friday’s procession.

“It’s not right that Christians should not be allowed to come,” said Ibrahim Kandalfat, in charge of Christian affairs in Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat’s self-rule government. “This is a holy day, and we would like to see all believers allowed to come on a holy day.”

Maj. Elise Shazar, spokeswoman for Israel’s military government in the West Bank, said permits were given to all Palestinian Christians who applied, but she did not know their numbers.

This year’s large crowds contrasted with the trickle of tourists during the 1987-1993 Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule in the occupied lands. Tourism has boomed since Palestinians and Israelis reached a peace accord in 1993.

Today also marks the start of the Passover holiday that commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.

Jews going to the Western Wall to greet the holiday mixed with Christian pilgrims, as well as Muslims en route to Friday noon prayers.

At the Vatican, a Protestant nun, a mother of three and a teen-age girl were among those called to help the Pope carry a wooden cross in the Good Friday procession.

The Pope, who has relied on a cane since last year’s hip replacement surgery, carried the light wooden cross on only three of the 14 Stations of the Cross.

Women have never before taken a direct role in the procession, although nuns have previously written the text read at each of the 14 stations.

A Russian Orthodox priest from Moscow was also one of the cross-bearers as part of Vatican efforts to involve other denominations on Christianity’s most solemn day.