Stations of the Cross be conducted personally by the faithful, making their way from one station to another and saying the prayers, or by having an officiating celebrant move from cross to cross while the faithful make the responses. The stations themselves must consist of, at the very least, fourteen wooden crosses, pictures alone do not suffice, and they must be blessed by someone with the authority to erect stations. Pope John Paul II led an annual public prayer of the Stations of the Cross at the Roman Colosseum on Good Friday. Originally, the pope himself carried the cross from station to station, but
Via Dolorosa of Cyrene takes Jesus' cross, and carries it for him. Although this narrative is included in the three Synoptic Gospels, the Gospel of John does not mention Simon of Cyrene but instead emphasizes the portion of the journey during which Jesus carried the cross himself. The current traditional site for the station is located at the east end of the western fraction of the Via Dolorosa, adjacent to the "Chapel of Simon of Cyrene", a Franciscan construction built in 1895. An inscription, in the architrave of one of the Chapel doors, references the Synoptic events. Prior to the 15th century,