Pope Leo’s Triduum plans: What’s new?

Leo XIV is set to celebrate his first Easter Triduum as pope, beginning with the Chrism Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on Holy Thursday morning.

Pope Leo in St. Peter’s Square. Credit: Vatican media.

The liturgical plans have been seen by some as a return to more traditional practice, including celebrating the Mass of the Lord’s Supper in the pope’s diocesan cathedral of St. John Lateran, rather than in a local prison, as Pope Francis often did.

They also include a notable departure: the pope is expected to personally carry the cross during the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum on Friday evening.

So, what is the pope’s schedule for celebrating his first Holy Week, and what’s new — or old, in the plans?

Holy Thursday

The pope will celebrate two masses on Holy Thursday.

At 9:30 am Roman time, he will celebrate the Chrism Mass, at which diocesan bishops the world over bless the oils for the anointing of the sick and the oil used for catechumens. The Mass will be celebrated with Roman diocesan clergy at Saint Peter’s Basilica.

Then, at 5:30 pm, he will celebrate the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome.This is something of a return to tradition, departed from by Pope Francis, who made it a frequent practice to celebrate the Holy Thursday Mass in Roman prisons or social centers, washing the feet of inmates and those living on the social “peripheries.”.

For example, Francis celebrated his first Holy Thursday Mass at Casa del Marmol juvenile prison, and in different prisons in Rome in every year of his pontificate but two: In 2014, he celebrated Mass in a rehabilitation center and in 2016 he celebrated Mass in a refugee center.

Pope Francis formally changed the rubrics for the liturgy so that the washing of the feet also included women in 2016. He commonly washed the feet of the prison’s inmates and refugees, including women and Muslims.

The Vatican has also announced that Pope Leo will wash the feet of 12 Roman priests, most of them ordained by him in the last year. This is also a return to the common practice for the papal Mass.

Pope Leo in the cathedral basilica of Saint John Lateran. Credit: Vatican media.

Good Friday

On Good Friday, Pope Leo will celebrate the liturgy – not a Mass – of the Passion of the Lord at 5:00 pm in Saint Peter’s Basilica.

During this liturgy, the homily is usually delivered by the preacher of the papal household, Fr. Roberto Pasolini, OFM Cap, but it hasn’t been made clear whether the pope will decide to preach himself.

While no changes are expected for this liturgy, the pope will introduce one innovation to the other major papal event of the day. Leo is set to become the first pope to carry the cross personally throughout all of the stations of the via Crucis celebrated at 9:15 pm in the Colosseum.

Both Benedict XVI and Saint John Paul II carried the cross only at the opening and closing stations, while Pope Francis presided over the ceremony from the Palatine Hill, and didn’t attend in the last years of his pontificate due to his health issues.

Asked about why he decided to carry the Cross through the whole via Crucis on Tuesday, Pope Leo said: “I think it will be an important sign because of what the Pope represents: a spiritual leader in today’s world, a voice to say that Christ still suffers. And I carry all these sufferings in my prayers as well.”

The meditations for this year’s via Crucis have been prepared by Fr. Francesco Patton, OFM, who was the Custos of the Holy Land from 2016 to 2025. Pope Francis personally prepared the meditations in 2024 and 2025, after returning home from his hospitalizations at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, and a few days before his death.

The Colosseum was dedicated in 1756 by Pope Benedict XIV to the memory of the passion of the Lord and the first Christian martyrs, which gave birth to the practice of praying the via Crucis in the Colosseum, but the practice died out in the 19th century. Pope Saint John XXIII revived the practice, with Pope Saint Paul VI making it a yearly event every Good Friday.

Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday

On Holy Saturday, the pope will celebrate the Easter Vigil at 9:00 pm, where he is expected to baptize and confirm several adults. On Easter Sunday, Leo will celebrate Mass at 10:15 am and will give the Easter Urbi et Orbi blessing from Saint Peter’s Basilica after Mass.

The square will be decorated with thousands of Dutch flowers, mostly tulips, brought from the Keukenhof garden near Amsterdam, perhaps the most famous tulip field in the world.

The tradition started following Pope John Paul II’s visit to the Netherlands in 1985, as the floral display left a strong impression on the pope, with the Vatican requesting Dutch florists to supply flowers for the beatification of Dutch holocaust martyr Titus Brandsma the same year. The tradition has continued at Easter every year since 1986.

Bishop Hans van den Hende of Rotterdam, president of the Dutch Bishops’ Conference, blessed the flowers before they were shipped to Rome on March 31. The arrangements this year include 65,000 tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, 7,800 flowers, delphiniums, gerberas, and thousands of other varieties of flowers.

On Easter Monday, the pope is scheduled to lead the Regina Caeli in St. Peter’s Square with no public events scheduled for Tuesday, and is expected to go to the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo.