On the evening of Good Friday, April 3, 2026, Pope Leo XIV lifted a wooden cross and carried it aloft from his waist as he set out from the Colosseum's interior to walk all 14 stations of the Way of the Cross. He did not hand it off at any point. He carried it to every station. Politico, the Los Angeles Times, CBS News, and the Euronews all reported it the same way: the first time in decades that a pope had personally carried the cross to all 14 stations of the Via Crucis.
The crowd of approximately 30,000 people gathered at the Colosseum on Palatine Hill watched an American-born pope, who had consistently rebuked the religious framing of the ongoing war with Iran, perform what Vatican News described as an act of "profoundly symbolic" embodiment.
The meditations read at each station — written by Franciscan Father Francesco Patton, who served as custodian of the Holy Land from 2016 to 2025 — went further. They addressed, directly and by implication, the people responsible for the war.
What the Meditations Said
The meditation for the first station — "Jesus is condemned to death" — was among the most direct. America Magazine reported that Father Patton wrote that every person in authority will answer to God in the Last Judgment for how they exercise power, including "the power to judge; the power to start or end a war; the power to instill violence or peace; the power to fuel the desire for revenge or for reconciliation; the power to use the economy to oppress people or to liberate them from misery."
That passage, as reported by America Magazine, was not metaphorical. It was a direct enumeration of the specific powers at stake in the current conflict. Trump has the power to start or end this war. Netanyahu has the power to start or end the Lebanon operation. Iran's leadership has the power to reopen Hormuz or keep it closed. The meditation listed those powers — exactly those powers — and said their wielders "will have to answer to God" for how they use them.
The National Catholic Reporter noted that the meditations had "a distinctly Franciscan flavor," pairing each Gospel reading with texts from St. Francis of Assisi, whose death marks its 800th anniversary in 2026. The choice of author — Patton spent nearly a decade as custodian of the holy sites in Jerusalem, Gaza, Lebanon, and across the region currently at war — was not accidental. He is a man who has spent years on the ground in the places now being destroyed.
OSV News published the full text of the meditations. The National Catholic Register quoted Pope Leo's own brief remarks before the procession: "Every person I will encounter on this journey is in my prayers." The Register also confirmed that Leo personally carried the cross to all 14 stations.
Why This Is the First Time in Decades
Previous popes — including John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis — had historically presided over the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum rather than physically carrying the cross the full distance. The tradition of having the pope personally participate at all 14 stations had lapsed over decades, in part due to age and health considerations. John Paul II notably handed off the cross to others in his later years. Francis, who used a wheelchair in his final years, presided from a distance.
Leo XIV is 69 years old as of his papacy, in good health, and in the first year of his pontificate. His decision to carry the cross the full 14 stations was described by Vatican officials before the event as "a significant spiritual symbol, representing the suffering of Christ," per the AP summary cited in the Gazette Extra.
In the context of a war entering its 37th day, with strikes on hospitals, vaccine laboratories, nuclear facilities, and civilian bridges — and with one American airman still missing on Iranian soil as Leo walked the stations — the symbolism required no decoding.
Leo's Position in Six Weeks of War
Leo XIV's public statements on the Iran war have been consistent and escalating in their directness over the six weeks since Operation Epic Fury began on February 28.
On Palm Sunday, March 29, he said from St. Peter's Square: "He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them." The New York Times, Washington Post, and WBUR all confirmed that statement verbatim.
On Holy Thursday, at a Mass inside the Vatican, he said the Christian mission has often been "distorted by a desire for domination, entirely foreign to the way of Jesus Christ" — a statement reported by the New York Times, the Guardian, and Politico as a response to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's repeated use of Christian nationalist language to frame the war.
On Good Friday, he carried the cross himself through meditations that said leaders who start wars will face divine judgment. On Holy Saturday, Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum threatening "all Hell" on Iran.
On Easter Sunday, April 5, Leo XIV will deliver his Urbi et Orbi address — the formal blessing of the city and the world — from St. Peter's Basilica. The Guardian reported, citing Vatican observers, that Leo is "expected to up his opposition to the war in Iran and other wars" in the Easter address. That address will be broadcast globally and is customarily among the most-watched papal moments of the year.
The St. Francis Dimension
The choice of St. Francis of Assisi as the spiritual counterpart to the Gospel readings in the Good Friday meditations is its own layer of the story. Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of ecology and peace. He is also, in Catholic tradition, known for having walked directly into the camp of the Sultan of Egypt during the Fifth Crusade in 1219 to seek a peaceful end to a war — an act of peacemaking that bypassed the military and diplomatic authorities of his day.
This year, 2026, marks the 800th anniversary of Francis's death. The meditations' author, Father Patton, spent almost a decade living in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and across the region where Francis walked and where wars are now being fought. The 800th anniversary of Francis's death, the current war, and the choice of a Franciscan custodian of the Holy Land to write the Good Friday meditations is a convergence that the Vatican chose deliberately.
National Catholic Reporter noted that Francis's texts were used as a direct pairing with the Gospel passages at each station — meaning the figure invoked as the spiritual model for the evening was a man who, eight centuries ago, walked into an active war zone and asked the enemy commander for peace.
What Happens Sunday
Easter Sunday Mass begins at 10:00 AM Rome time (4:00 AM Eastern, 3:00 AM Central). The Urbi et Orbi address follows immediately after. It will be transmitted live by Vatican News, RAI, and major international broadcast networks.
Leo's previous major war statements have generated significant diplomatic and political reactions. The Palm Sunday statement was cited by congressional Democrats, European foreign ministers, and Iranian state media. The Holy Thursday statement produced immediate responses from Hegseth's team and from evangelical leaders who support the war's religious framing.
The Easter address is the highest-profile annual moment in the Catholic calendar for a papal message. Whatever Leo says Sunday morning will be said with a global audience, on the most sacred day of the Christian year, 48 hours before Trump's Hormuz deadline expires.
The Colosseum Context
The Way of the Cross at the Colosseum has been held on Good Friday since 1964, when Pope Paul VI revived the tradition. It takes place at a site that, in the first centuries of Christianity, was used for the public execution of gladiators and, according to tradition, some early Christian martyrs — though historians note the extent of Christian martyrdom at the Colosseum specifically is disputed.
What is not disputed is the symbolism. The Colosseum is a monument to Roman imperial power and its capacity for organized violence. For an American pope to carry a cross through its arches on Good Friday while an American-backed military campaign was destroying a country on the other side of the Mediterranean — and while the meditations explicitly called leaders of wars to account before God — is a tableau with few precedents in recent papal history.
Around 30,000 people were present, per the AP and Gazette Extra. Millions more watched on broadcast and streaming. The image of Leo carrying the cross personally, at night, through 14 stations at the Colosseum, circulated globally within hours.