Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Pope Francis lights the paschal candle at the start of the Easter Vigil in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican in this April 11, 2020, file photo. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Holy Week and Easter services at the Vatican will again this year not be open to the general public. (CNS photo/Remo Casilli, Reuters)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican published Pope Francis’ calendar for Holy Week and Easter, which due to coronavirus restrictions, will be celebrated primarily in St. Peter’s Basilica with a very small congregation.

While the pope is expected to preside over most of the liturgical celebrations, he is not expected to preside over the Mass of the Lord’s Supper April 1. According to Vatican News, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, will celebrate the Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the pope had made it a tradition to celebrate the Mass and foot-washing ritual at a prison or detention center, refugee center or rehabilitation facility.

The Vatican did not give a reason for the pope’s absence, which -- if he does not celebrate the liturgy elsewhere -- would mark the first time he does not preside over the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.

The Vatican also announced that the pope asked two troops of Italian scouts from Rome and Umbria to prepare the meditations for the Way of the Cross. Youngsters from two group homes for disadvantaged young people in Rome -- “Mater Divini Amoris” and “Tetto Casal Fattoria” -- have drawn the illustrations to accompany the prayer.

The young people’s “words and colors convey the complexity of a world made up of small and large crosses, but also of trust and hope for the future,” the Vatican said.

Here is the schedule of papal liturgical ceremonies for Holy Week according to Vatican News (times listed are local):

  • March 28, Palm Sunday, 10:30 a.m. Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica.
  • April 1, chrism Mass, 10 a.m. in St. Peter’s Basilica.
  • April 2, Good Friday, 6 p.m. liturgy of the Lord’s passion in St. Peter’s Basilica.
  • April 2, Way of the Cross, 9 p.m., in front of St. Peter’s Basilica.
  • April 3, Easter vigil Mass, 7:30 p.m., St. Peter’s Basilica.
  • April 4, Easter morning Mass, 10 a.m., St. Peter’s Basilica, followed at noon by the pope’s blessing “urbi et orbi” (the city and the world).

We don’t have comments turned on everywhere anymore. We have recently relaunched the commenting experience at America and are aiming for a more focused commenting experience with better moderation by opening comments on a select number of articles each day.

But we still want your feedback. You can join the conversation about this article with us in social media on Twitter or Facebook, or in one of our Facebook discussion groups for various topics.

Or send us feedback on this article with one of the options below:

We welcome and read all letters to the editor but, due to the volume received, cannot guarantee a response.

In order to be considered for publication, letters should be brief (around 200 words or less) and include the author’s name and geographic location. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

We open comments only on select articles so that we can provide a focused and well-moderated discussion on interesting topics. If you think this article provides the opportunity for such a discussion, please let us know what you'd like to talk about, or what interesting question you think readers might want to respond to.

If we decide to open comments on this article, we will email you to let you know.

If you have a message for the author, we will do our best to pass it along. Note that if the article is from a wire service such as Catholic News Service, Religion News Service, or the Associated Press, we will not have direct contact information for the author. We cannot guarantee a response from any author.

We welcome any information that will help us improve the factual accuracy of this piece. Thank you.

Please consult our Contact Us page for other options to reach us.

City and state/province, or if outside Canada or the U.S., city and country. 
When you click submit, this article page will reload. You should see a message at the top of the reloaded page confirming that your feedback has been received.

The latest from america

I am rather fond of my native land and her robust and quirky republican traditions, but Jesus did not preach democracy nor endorse any particular political philosophy.
Anthony R. Lusvardi, S.J.November 13, 2024
What are our young people learning? What will we do as people of faith to actively mitigate suffering? And, finally, what about the future?
Cecilia González-AndrieuNovember 13, 2024
A brushfire on a hill threatens a row of single-family homes, below, in Southern California. (iStock/f00sion)
We have recently seen entire communities wiped off the map by wildfires fueled by ever-hotter weather. This has grave implications for tradition, family and other goods that social conservatives value.
Joshua L. SohnNovember 13, 2024
Pilgrims coming to Rome will now have the opportunity to experience St. Peter’s Basilica like never before.