Pope Leo XIV to carry cross at all 14 stations of Colosseum Way of the Cross

Pope Leo XIV will carry the cross himself through all 14 stations of the Way of the Cross at Rome's Colosseum on the first Good Friday of his pontificate.

It will be the first time that a pope has carried the cross for every station in the Via Crucis since the tradition was revived at the site more than six decades ago.

The 70-year-old pope's predecessors Pope Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II carried the cross only at the opening and closing of the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum. Pope Francis presided over the Via Crucis from the nearby Palatine Hill and in his final years did not attend at all due to declining health.

In 1756, Pope Benedict XIV dedicated the Colosseum to the memory of the passion of Christ and the early Christian martyrs, and the Stations of the Cross were regularly prayed in the Colosseum for about 100 years in the 18th and 19th centuries. St. John XXIII restored the Via Crucis tradition to the Colosseum with St. Paul VI making it a regular tradition in Rome.

The meditations for this year's papal Stations of the Cross were written by Franciscan Fr. Francesco Patton, who served as custos of the Holy Land from 2016 to 2025. Often writing from Mount Nebo in Jordan, Patton has been a consistent voice on behalf of those suffering amid conflict and instability across the Middle East. The Holy See Press Office has said the texts will be published on the morning of Good Friday, April 3.