This Good Friday, Pope Leo XIV performed his first Stations of the Cross as Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church in the Flavian Amphitheater, known as the Colosseum in Rome, where Jesus’ path to the crucifixion was remembered.
During this event, the pontiff brought together hundreds of faithful on the day that commemorates the death of Jesus Christ, and revived the Stations of the Cross after four years since its last celebration.
“The Via Dolorosa unfolds through the alleys of the Old City of Jerusalem and makes us follow the path of Jesus from the place of his condemnation to that of his crucifixion and burial, which is also the place of his resurrection,” says the introduction to the Good Friday Via Crucis message that Pope Leo XIV made this April 3.
In his first Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, Leo XIV decided to carry the cross during the fourteen stations of the route, which, according to media such as DW, had not happened since 1994 with John Paul II. In this act, the pontiff recalled the last moments of Jesus, from his condemnation to his death.
On the tour of the 14 stations inside the Flavian Amphitheater, the Supreme Pontiff followed the meditations written by the Franciscan Francesco Patton, as detailed by the Holy See Press Office, while the meditations of 2024 and 2025 were written by Pope Francis.
In his meditations, Francesco Patton reminded the Church of the problems that afflict humanity, such as war, abuse of power, poverty, victims of humiliation and economic inequality.
During the tour, Pope Leo XIV held the cross at each station, a symbolism that, according to AS Prensa, suggests that he sought to carry part of the pain of the contemporary world on his shoulders.
“I think it will be an important sign because of what the Pope represents: a spiritual leader today in the world, this voice to say that Christ still suffers. And I also carry all this suffering in my prayer,” Leo XIV told journalists outside Villa, according to international media.
Pope Leo XIV has entered the Colosseum to begin the Via Crucis / Way of the Cross. pic.twitter.com/pyazgZCy0Z
— Colm Flynn (@colmflynnire) April 3, 2026
As in the time of Jesus, the Vatican highlights, this via crucis is celebrated among the faithful, but also those who judge and mock the faith. Likewise, this Way of the Cross commemorates Saint Francis of Assisi, who remembered the life of the believer with the words of the Apostle Peter: “our Lord Jesus Christ, whose footsteps we must follow, called the one who betrayed him a friend and spontaneously offered himself to those who crucified him.”
Pope Leo XIV became only the second pope to carry the Cross throughout the entire Way of the Cross at Rome’s Colosseum on Good Friday.
Video: Vatican Media pic.twitter.com/W9M3eZ9bvg
— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) April 3, 2026
Stations of the Cross
- Jesus is condemned to death
- Jesus carries the cross
- Jesus falls for the first time
- Jesus meets his Mother
- Jesus is helped by the Cyrenean to carry the cross
- Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
- Jesus falls for the second time
- Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
- Jesus falls for the third time
- Jesus is stripped of his clothes
- Jesus is nailed to the cross
- Jesus dies on the cross
- Jesus is taken down from the cross
- Jesus is placed in the tomb