ROME (AP) — Tourists and Roman Catholic pilgrims flocked to the Colosseum in a cold, heavy evening rain to see Pope Benedict XVI in a Way of the Cross procession commemorating Jesus' crucifixion on Good Friday.

Gusty wind, rain and hail had battered Rome intermittently since Thursday, but people started staking out places on the lawn near the Colosseum hours before the procession began.

There was no noticeable increase of security ahead of the pope's arrival. Earlier in the week, Osama bin Laden accused Benedict of playing a role in a worldwide campaign against Islam, an accusation the Vatican described as baseless.

Benedict planned to carry a lightweight cross in the last part of the procession, after a young Chinese woman was to walk for part of the way, according to the Vatican's schedule for the event.

The pontiff, who has been dedicating much of his papacy to the problems of Catholics in China, asked Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen to compose the meditations that would be read aloud during the procession commemorating Jesus' suffering before being crucified.

Zen said the Vatican made sure there was nothing ''dangerous'' in the meditations that might offend Beijing. Benedict is eager for the Vatican and China's communist government to establish diplomatic ties.

In one of the meditations, Zen laments the persecution of Catholics in many parts of the world, but he doesn't mention China by name.

China forced its Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951, shortly after the Communist Party took power. Worship is allowed only in officially state-sanctioned churches, which recognize the pope as a spiritual leader but appoint their own bishops in defiance of the Vatican.

However, millions of Chinese belong to unofficial congregations, risking harassment by authorities. Some clergy have been jailed in China.

Others chosen to hold the cross during the procession included a nun from Burkina Faso, a Roman family and a disabled person in a wheelchair.