First Holy Week of Leo XIV: Stations of the Cross in the Colosseum but without Holy Thursday in prison.
Vatican City, Feb 3 (EFE)
Pope Leo XIV’s first Holy Week will maintain the traditional Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum in Rome and return the Holy Thursday Mass to the historic Basilica of St. John Lateran, a departure from Francis’s tradition of celebrating it in a prison or migrant center.
The Vatican’s Office for Liturgical Celebrations published on Tuesday the calendar of rites and celebrations for Leo XIV between February and April, which includes his first Holy Week as pontiff following his election in the May 2025 conclave.
The events will begin with Palm Sunday Mass on March 29 in St. Peter’s Square, during which the American pope will commemorate Jesus Christ’s entry into Jerusalem.
This will be followed by the Easter Triduum, the three days during which the Catholic Church remembers his passion, death, and resurrection.
Holy Thursday, April 2, will begin at 9:30 a.m. local time (8:30 GMT) with the traditional Chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and will continue in the afternoon with the Mass of the Last Supper in the Roman Basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of the popes.
This is the most notable change in this year’s calendar, as during the twelve years of Francis’s pontificate, this Mass was celebrated in prisons or shelters, where the Argentine pope also performed the rite of the washing of feet with prisoners or migrants.
This tradition is not currently included in the calendar of Leo XIV.
On Good Friday, which commemorates the death of Jesus Christ, the only day of the year without Mass as a sign of mourning, the pope will preside over the celebration of the Passion of the Lord in St. Peter’s Basilica, an act in which popes usually prostrate themselves on the floor of the basilica.
Last night, Leo XIV led the traditional Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum in Rome, a symbol of the persecution of the early Christians.
His first Holy Week will culminate with Easter Sunday Mass on April 5 in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, followed by his Urbi et Orbi blessing (to the City and the World) from the central loggia of the basilica.
In addition to the rites of the most important week of the liturgical calendar, the Holy See has also announced the busy schedule that Leo XIV will have in February and March.
As Bishop of Rome, he has planned pastoral visits to five parishes in Rome, beginning on February 15 in the coastal neighborhood of Ostia and ending on March 15 in the Ponte Mammolo area.
Furthermore, from February 22 to 27, he will preside over the Spiritual Exercises with the Roman Curia at the Apostolic Palace, thus continuing a Jesuit tradition of Pope Francis.
Finally, on February 18, Leo XIV will celebrate Ash Wednesday Mass and the procession between the Church of Sant’Anselmo and the Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome.
