On Good Friday, as Christians marked the final hours of Jesus’ life, Pope Leo led the Via Crucis at Rome’s Colosseum, carrying the wooden cross through all 14 stations. It was his first Easter weekend as leader of the world’s Roman Catholics and the first time in decades that a pope has been well enough to complete the full devotion.
The Way of the Cross is a central Good Friday ritual recalling Jesus’ passion and death. By shouldering the cross for each station, the pope participated directly in the penitential procession, a gesture long familiar to worshippers but rare from the papal office in recent years due to health and age considerations.