Rome: Pope Leo carries the Cross in Colosseum Via Crucis

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Source: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV tonight became the second Pope ever to carry the Cross for the entire Good Friday Via Crucis at Rome's Colosseum.

Joined by more than 30,000 faithful and countless people around the world on social media, television, and radio, the Pope led the Way of the Cross through the candlelit ruins of the ancient Roman ampitheatre, which witnessed the martyrdom of so many early Christians.

Begun by the Emperor Vespasian and completed in 80 AD by the Emperor Titus, the largest ampitheatre ever built was eventually consecrated as a Catholic church.

Each year, the Pope and the faithful of Rome gather at the Colosseum to make the spiritual pilgrimage through the fourteen Stations of the Cross that recall Jesus' death and burial.

Pope Leo XIV followed in the footsteps of Pope St John Paul II, who carried the Cross for the entire Via Crucis from 1980 until 1994.

As Pope Leo carried the Cross, passages from the Gospel were read, along with brief excerpts from the writing of St Francis and meditations written by Franciscan Fr Francesco Patton, the former Custos of the Holy Land.

In his meditations, Fr Patton laid out St Francis' example of how Christians can incarnate the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love in the real world.

He took the crowd along Jesus' original path through the narrow streets of Jerusalem up to Golgotha for His crucifixion and burial.

"As in the time of Jesus," he said, "we find ourselves walking through a chaotic, distracting and noisy environment, surrounded by people who share our faith in Him, but also by those who deride or insult Him."

"The Way of the Cross is not intended for those who lead a pristinely pious or abstractly recollected life," said Fr Patton. "Instead, it is the exercise of one who knows that faith, hope and charity must be incarnated in the real world".

At each station, Fr Patton decried the human presumption of power and our temptation to abuse it.

We saw our revulsion of the Cross revealed and our desire to seek glory instead of humility.

As Jesus fell three times, Fr Patton reminded us that we must trust in Him to lift us up to the Father through the powerlessness of love.

He pointed out how authoritarian regimes, the indifferent media, and our own morbid curiousity strip others naked and thereby debase our own human dignity.

As Mary witnessed her Son's death, Fr Patton recalled that women have always stayed alongside those who suffer, and we learn that our tears teach us to remain human.

Yet, he noted, in His death, Jesus returns to the Father and brings us with Him, entrusting us with the mission to preach His destruction of eternal death.

At the conclusion of the Way of the Cross, Pope Leo XIV prayed that Christians may respond to St Francis' invitation to "live our lives as a journey of ever-deepening participation in the communion of love."

Watch the full video of the Via Crucis led by Pope Leo at the Colosseum: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm7uhsp_TlU

Read Fr Patton's meditations: https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2026/04/03/0257/00553.html#en