reflections, updates and homilies from Deacon Mike Talbot inspired by the following words from my ordination: Receive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe and practice what you teach...
Pope Leo XIV carries Cross for Via Crucis at Colosseum in Rome
Pope Leo XIV leads the faithful at the Good Friday Way of the Cross by carrying the Cross throughout the Colosseum in Rome.
By Devin Watkins
Pope Leo XIV became the second Pope to carry the Cross for the entire Via Crucis on Good Friday at Rome’s Colosseum.
Joined by around 30,000 faithful and countless people across the world on social media, television, and radio, the Pope led the Way of the Cross through the candlelit ruins of the ancient Roman edifice, which witnessed the martyrdom of many early Christians.
Begun by the Emperor Vespasian and completed in 80 AD by the Emperor Titus, the largest ancient elliptical amphitheater was eventually consecrated as a Catholic church.
Each year, the Pope and the faithful of Rome gather at the Colosseum to make the spiritual pilgrimage through the fourteen Stations of the Cross that recall Jesus’ death and burial.
Pope Leo XIV followed in the footsteps of Pope St. John Paul II, who carried the Cross for the entire Via Crucis from 1980 until 1994.
Pope Leo carries the Cross inside the Colosseum (@Vatican Media)
As Pope Leo carried the Cross, passages from the Gospel were read, along with brief excerpts from the writing of St. Francis and meditations written by Franciscan Fr. Francesco Patton, the former Custos of the Holy Land.
In his meditations, Fr. Patton lays out St. Francis’ example of how Christians can incarnate the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love in the real world.
He takes us along Jesus’ original path through the narrow streets of Jerusalem up to Golgotha for His crucifixion and burial.
“As in the time of Jesus,” he says, “we find ourselves walking through a chaotic, distracting and noisy environment, surrounded by people who share our faith in Him, but also by those who deride or insult Him.”
“The Way of the Cross is not intended for those who lead a pristinely pious or abstractly recollected life,” says Fr. Patton. “Instead, it is the exercise of one who knows that faith, hope and charity must be incarnated in the real world”.
Over 30,000 people prayed the Stations of the Cross with Pope Leo near the Colosseum (@Vatican Media)
At each station, Fr. Patton decries the human presumption of power and our temptation to abuse it.
We see our revulsion of the Cross revealed and our desire to seek glory instead of humility.
As Jesus falls three times, Fr. Patton reminds us that we must trust in Him to lift us up to the Father through the powerlessness of love.
He points out how authoritarian regimes, the indifferent media, and our own morbid curiousity strip others naked and thereby debase our own human dignity.
As Mary witnesses her Son’s death, Fr. Patton recalls that women have always stayed alongside those who suffer, and we learn that our tears teach us to remain human.
Yet, he notes, in His death, Jesus returns to the Father and brings us with Him, entrusting us with the mission to preach His destruction of eternal death.
At the conclusion of the Way of the Cross, Pope Leo XIV prayed that Christians may respond to St. Francis’ invitation to “live our lives as a journey of ever-deepening participation in the communion of love.”
Watch the full video of the Via Crucis led by Pope Leo at Rome's Colosseum
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Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion: 'Jesus transformed Crucifixion into salvation'
Pope Leo XIV presides over the solemn liturgy of the Lord's Passion on Good Friday in St. Peter's Basilica, and Fr. Roberto Pasolini, OFM Cap, the Preacher of the Pontifical Household, underscores in his sermon that by walking the Way of the Cross, the Lord learned the most difficult obedience: that of love for the other, even when the other appears as an enemy.
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
Pope Leo XIV presided over the liturgy of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ in St. Peter’s Basilica on Good Friday afternoon. Good Friday is the only day of the year on which Holy Mass is not celebrated.
The Church celebrates the Solemn Liturgy of the Passion of the Lord, consisting of three parts: the Liturgy of the Word, culminating in the chanting of the Passion according to St. John; the Adoration of the Cross; and reception of Holy Communion.
After the proclamation of the Passion, the Preacher of the Pontifical Household, Fr. Roberto Pasolini, OFM Cap, delivered the homily.
Jesus allowed Himself to be guided to the greatest love
Fr. Pasolini began by reminding that on this holy day the liturgy invites us to contemplate the Passion of the Lord, warning that the Cross of Christ risks remaining incomprehensible if we view it as an isolated fact, as a sudden and inexplicable event, but rather is the highest point of a journey.
It is in fact, he marveled, the fulfillment of a life in which Jesus learned to listen to and welcome the voice of the Father, allowing Himself to be guided to the greatest love.
He remembered that during the days of Holy Week, the liturgy has led us to listen to the so-called “Songs of the Servant of the Lord,” poetic texts in which the prophet Isaiah outlines the figure of a mysterious Servant through whom God brings salvation to the world from evil and sin. Fr. Pasolini recalled that they just listened to it.
He recalled that in the first song, the Servant is introduced as one called by the Lord to carry out “to open 'the eyes of the blind' and to bring ‘prisoners out from confinement, from the dungeon those who dwell in darkness,’" but to do so in a precise way, without violence and great gentleness.
Acknowledging that the Servant must be a seeker of life amid the darkness of evil, the Preacher pointed out that such a mission is not easy to embrace.
That feeling of all efforts being in vain
In the second song, the Servant, after striving to fulfil his mission, experiences the bitter sense that all his effort to do good has been in vain, thinking that the good that has been sown does not seem to bear fruit.
“It is a crisis that, sooner or later, reaches anyone who has chosen to follow the Lord: the feeling of going in circles, of getting nowhere, of remaining faithful to something that yields no visible result," he acknowledged.
But in reality, Fr. Pasolini insisted, it is only an impression.
In the third song, the Servant realizes that those he wishes to help respond with hostility, anger, and even violence. Yet, the preacher observed, the Servant continues along the path indicated by the Lord without fleeing.
In the fourth song, Fr. Pasolini warned, something shocking occurs. “The violence inflicted upon the Servant is so intense that it disfigures his face, rendering him unrecognizable..."
Yet precisely along this path, he said, he has learned not to return the evil he receives.
The Liturgy of the Passion Liturgy in the Vatican (@Vatican Media)
Jesus broke the chain
After reflecting on each of these songs, Fr. Pasolini gave a powerful reminder that Jesus did not merely listen to these songs, He interpreted and lived them fully.
With complete trust in the will of the Father, the Lord, the Papal Preacher said, transformed His crucifixion into an event of salvation.”
He lamented that the world when faced with evil knows only two paths, that of surrender to the evil or returning it, saying, "We see this continually: in wars, in divisions, in the wounds that mark our relationships.”
"Jesus," Fr. Pasolini noted, “broke this chain not by imposing himself with greater force," but by receiving what happened to Him, with the dramatic events of the Passion.
"Thus, by walking the Way of the Cross,” Christ, he said, "learned the most difficult obedience: that of love for the other, even when the other appears as an enemy."
The Capuchin preacher lamented that we live in a world in which the voice of God no longer guides the shared path of humanity as it once did. “Wars do not cease, injustices multiply, and the most vulnerable bear the cost.”
The choice to go against the current and follow the Lord's example
He said it is as though a unifying word or song capable of guiding humanity toward a more just and fraternal world were missing.
“And yet, precisely in this scenario,” he marveled, “something surprising can be seen: a silent multitude of people who choose to listen to a different voice, which some recognize clearly as the will of God,” while “others perceive it as a deep and inescapable call of conscience.”
He said some choose to listen to this song. “They are normal men and women who walk, sometimes without even realizing it, the same path as the Servant of the Lord.”
“They do not perform extraordinary deeds,” Fr. Pasolini said, but, “They simply rise each day and try to make their lives something that serves not only themselves but others.”
He said it is thanks to them that evil does not have the last word and history is not ending in violence.
“This multitude bears witness that the songs of that Servant, in whom God delights,” he commended, “continue to resound in the human heart, waiting only for someone willing to translate them into the concrete "score" of one’s own life, even when this means carrying the cross.”
World needs to be saved
Yesterday as today, he stressed, the world needs to be saved from the violence of evil, from injustice that kills, from divisions that humiliate.
“But this salvation will not descend from above, nor can it be guaranteed by political, economic, or military decisions,” but rather Fr. Pasolini observed, “the world is continually saved by those who are willing to embrace the songs of the Servant of the Lord as the way they live their lives.”
This, he said, is what the Lord Jesus did when He took the will of the Father seriously, embracing it as a "score" to be carried out to the end, “with loud cries and tears, and this evening, he added, “the "score" of the Cross is entrusted to us as well.”
“We can receive it freely if we accept that there is no difficult circumstance that cannot be faced, no guilty person at whom we must point the finger, no enemy who can prevent us from loving and serving,” the Papal Preacher insisted.
The Lord needs us as His instruments
Instead, we must realize, he underscored, “There is only us, who—by choosing not to return evil, by remaining patient in trials, by believing in the good even when darkness seems to swallow everything, can become those servants whom the Lord wishes to use to bring salvation to the world.”
“In a time like ours, so torn by hatred and violence, where even the name of God is invoked to justify wars and decisions of death,” he said, “we Christians are called to approach the Cross of the Lord.”
He said we are to do so without fear and with full confidence, knowing that the "throne" from which one learns to reign, is that where we placing our lives at the service of others.”
And thus Fr. Pasolini encouraged, “If we hold fast to 'our confession of faith,' our days will give voice to songs of both joy and suffering—that mysterious "score" of the Cross in which the notes of the greatest love can be recognized.”
Watch the full video of the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord
Pope Leo: 'We are called to serve the People of God with our whole lives'
Celebrating the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday evening in the Papal Basilica of St. John Lateran, Pope Leo XIV tells his brother priests that they are to serve the Lord by giving all of their lives to the People of God, and stresses that in this time of great brutality around the world, we, too, are to kneel alongside the oppressed and all in need.
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
“In this world, and particularly in those places where evil abounds, Jesus loves definitively — forever, and with His whole being.”
Pope Leo XIV gave this powerful reminder on Holy Thursday evening during the Mass in Coena Domini at the Papal Basilica of St. John Lateran.
In his homily, the Pope recalled that the evening’s solemn liturgy marks their entry into the Holy Triduum of the Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection.
The Lord kneels to wash each one of us
“Out of love,” Pope Leo emphasized as he reflected on the Lord’s washing of His Apostles' feet, “the Lord kneels to wash each one of us, and His divine gift transforms us.”
What the Lord shows us, in taking the water, the basin and towel, he noted, is "far more than a moral example," but is His entrusting to us "His very way of life,"
He stressed that the washing of the feet is a gesture that encapsulates the revelation of God.
By Jesus taking on the condition of a servant, the Holy Father noted, He reveals the Father’s glory, "overturning the worldly standards that so often distort our conscience."
'We are called to serve the People of God with our whole lives'
Pope Leo quoted Benedict XVI, who in his 2008 Homily for the Mass of the Lord's Supper, suggested that we, like Peter who at first resisted Jesus’ initiative, too must learn repeatedly that God’s greatness is different from our idea of greatness.
Benedict, Leo said, acknowledged that we are always tempted to seek a God who “serves” us, or grants us victory in some way, with us often failing to perceive that God does indeed serve us through the gratuitous and humble gesture of washing feet.
As the Pope reflected on the Lord's washing of the feet and the institution of the Eucharist with the breaking of the bread, he reminded that Jesus' gesture shows Him giving all of Himself, as priests are called to do with their whole being.
"Beloved brothers in the priesthood," the Pope would go on to say, "we are called to serve the People of God with our whole lives."
"Through Bishops and priests, constituted as priests of the New Covenant, according to the Lord’s command," the Pope said, "there is made present the sign of His charity towards the whole People of God."
Lord's love precedes our goodness
The Holy Father reminded that the Lord’s love precedes our own goodness or purity.
"He loves us first, and in that love, he forgives and restores us," Pope Leo said, stressing, "His love is not a reward for our acceptance of His mercy; instead, He loves us, and therefore cleanses us, thereby enabling us to respond to His love."
The Pope called on priests to learn from Jesus this reciprocal service, Who, he reminded, "does not ask us to repay Him, but to share His giftamong ourselves."
He told priests that the necessary condition for serving as the Lord did, is for priests to allow themselves to be served by the Lord, for Christ said, "Unless you accept me as your servant, you cannot truly believe in me or follow me as Lord."
As humanity is brought to its knees
In Him, God, the Pope said, has given us an example, on how not to dominate, but to liberate, and not of how to destroy life, but to give it.
"As humanity is brought to its knees by so many acts of brutality, let us too kneel down as brothers and sisters alongside the oppressed."
In this way, he said, we seek to follow the Lord’s example, who has offered the perfect self-gift of Himself.
Thus, the Pope insisted, Holy Thursday is a day of fervent gratitude and authentic fraternity. "May this evening’s Eucharistic adoration, in every parish and community, be a time to contemplate Jesus’ gesture, kneeling as he did, and to ask for the strength to imitate His service with the same love."
Continuing tradition
Continuing the tradition of Christ, Pope Leo during the Mass washed the feet of twelve priests.
The priests were Fr. Andrea Alessi, Fr. Gabriele Di Menno Di Bucchianico, Fr. Renzo Chiesa, Fr. Francesco Melone, Fr. Clody Merfalen, Fr. Federico Pelosio, Fr. Marco Petrolo, Fr. Pietro Hieu Nguyen Huai, Fr. Matteo Renzi, Fr. Giuseppe Terranova, Fr. Simone Troilo, and Fr. Enrico Maria Trusiani, eleven of whom were ordained by Pope Leo last year. Fr. Chiesa was the twelfth, who was not ordained by Pope Leo, but is spiritual director of the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary.
Pope Leo in prayer before Blessed Sacrament in the place of repose (@Vatican Media)
At the end of the liturgy, the Pope carried the Blessed Sacrament to the place of repose, in the Chapel of Saint Francis
Cardinal You Heung-sik calls all priests 'friends of the Lord'
Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik, Prefect of the Dicastery for Clergy, pens a letter to all priests, deacons, and seminarians throughout the world for Holy Thursday, thanking them for bringing Christ close to His people through their ministry.
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
"Thank you for your daily fidelity, often silent and hidden. Thank you for your 'yes,' renewed each day, even amid hardships, loneliness, and misunderstandings. Thank you because, through your ministry, Christ continues to draw near to His people, to heal, to forgive, and to nourish them."
Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik, Prefect of the Dicastery for Clergy, along with Dicastery's Secretary, Archbishop Carlo Roberto Maria Redaelli, expressed this appreciation in a letter sent to priests, deacons, and seminarians for Holy Thursday.
As the Church commemorates the institution of the Eucharist and the ministerial priesthood, Cardinal You said they wished "to reach all of you, in every part of the world, with a thought of profound gratitude, fraternal affection, and sincere encouragement."
Priests are friends of the Lord
He recalled that the Church contemplates the Lord Jesus, who, washed out of love the feet of the disciples and gives Himself in the breaking of bread, saying that "from this love, our vocation is born, and to this love we are continually called to conform our entire life."
Cardinal You thanked priests for their immense love and friendship with the Lord.
"The Holy Father Leo XIV, during the Holy Year of Hope," he recalled, "reminded us that 'the priest is a friend of the Lord, called to a personal and trusting relationship with Him, nourished by the Word, the celebration of the Sacraments, and daily prayer," and that friendship with Christ is the spiritual foundation of the ordained ministry.'"
With this in mind, the Cardinal reminded priests that being a priest is not merely a role to be performed, but a gift to be safeguarded with a grateful heart and filled with wonder.
He added that priests are not defined simply by what they do, as much as by "the infinite love with which Christ loves us."
Eucharist is the source and summit of our existence
In the letter, the Cardinal reflected on priestly sacrifice and service.
Sacrifice, in its deepest truth, he clarified, is not first of all renunciation but a gift. "It is," he said, "offering one’s life so that it may be wholly oriented to the love of God and of our brothers and sisters."
"We are called to live as men given over, consecrated, who find in the Eucharist the source and summit of our existence," he continued. "It is at the altar that we allow ourselves to be conformed to Christ, receiving the strength to accompany, to forgive, and to console."
Service, he explained, is the concrete form of this love.
The final recommendation Cardinal You offered priests is to not be discouraged by the difficulties of our time. "Even when the soil seems barren and the seed struggles to grow, the Lord continues to act," he reassured. "He has chosen us, He has consecrated us, and He never abandons us."
"Therefore," he said, "be priests with open hearts, capable of closeness, listening, and compassion; men of communion, credible signs of a synodal and missionary Church; joyful witnesses of the Gospel, even when this entails sacrifice."
Safeguard the joy of your calling
Cardinal You also thanked all permanent deacons, who, "through their generous and discreet service, make visible the charity of Christ the Servant."
The Cardinal Prefect insisted that the ministry of deacons is "precious and necessary for the life of the Church, today more than ever."
And finally, he turned to all seminarians preparing for the priesthood.
"Do not be afraid," the Cardinal encouraged, "to give your entire life to the Lord."
He urged all seminarians to safeguard the joy of their calling and allow themselves to be formed each day by His love, for the Church needs their authenticity, enthusiasm, and faith.
Finally, the Prefect and Secretary of the Dicastery for the Clergy concluded by entrusting all priests, deacons, and seminarians to the Blessed Mother, and wishing them a fruitful Holy Triduum in deep union with the Lord Jesus
Pope at Chrism Mass: Priests must spread Christ’s peace where death reigns
At the Chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo XIV invites priests, bishops, and all Christians to embrace their challenges with trust in God and “spread the fragrance of Christ where the stench of death reigns.”
By Devin Watkins
Pope Leo XIV presided at the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday in St. Peter’s Basilica, joined by hundreds of bishops and priests who renewed the promises they made at their ordination.
In his first homily for the Chrism Mass as the Bishop of Rome, the Pope reflected on the mission to which God calls every Christian, which he said is the very same mission as that of Jesus.
“Each of us takes part in it according to our own vocation in a deeply personal obedience to the voice of the Spirit, yet never without others, never neglecting or breaking communion!” he said.
Ahead of the Easter Triduum, which begins with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper later on Holy Thursday, Pope Leo said the culmination of the Christian liturgical year has the power to transform human pride, heal wounds, reconcile us, and gather us together.
Pope Leo celebrates Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday (@Vatican Media)
The Holy Father went on to reflect on three aspects of the Christian mission: detachment, encounter, and the possibility of misunderstanding and rejection.
As members of Christ’s Body, Christians—and especially ordained ministers—are sent out in service of His people, which requires us to leave behind attachments that are familiar and certain so that we can venture into something new.
“There is no mission without reconciliation with our past, with the gifts and limitations of the upbringing we have received,” he said. “But, at the same time, there is no peace without setting out, no awareness without detachment, no joy without risk.”
In self-emptying, we discover a fundamental secret of mission, which is that everything we let go of is given back to us multiplied in ways we cannot imagine.
Pope Leo XIV then spoke about “the law of encounter,” which he said has often been distorted historically by a desire for domination.
“It is now a priority to remember that neither in the pastoral sphere nor in the social and political spheres can good come from abuse of power,” he said.
Many great missionaries have borne witness, he said, to “quiet, unobtrusive approaches, whose method is the sharing of life, selfless service, the renunciation of any calculated strategy, dialogue and respect.”
The Holy Spirit makes Jesus present to His priests, working harder and better than they do and teaching them to welcome and follow Christ, he said.
“To establish this harmony with the transcendent,” he said, “we must go where we are sent with simplicity, respecting the mystery that every person and every community carry within them.”
Christians are guests, wherever they are, added the Pope, noting that in places where secularization has taken hold, we must learn to learn ways to communicate the Gospel of Jesus effectively.
Pope Leo then turned to the possibility of being misunderstood or rejected, which he said is the most radical element of the Christian mission.
Accepting the cross is an essential part of mission and has the power to bring true transformation to society and ourselves.
“The imperialist occupation of the world is thus disrupted from within; the violence that until now has been the law is unmasked,” he said. “The poor, imprisoned, rejected Messiah descends into the darkness of death, yet in so doing he brings a new creation to light.”
Even when we experience failure or our own shortcomings, we must learn to trust that God’s grace will help us to face unforeseen circumstances, as the saints have before us.
In conclusion, Pope Leo XIV urged Christians to overcome any sense of powerlessness or fear as we proclaim Christ’s death and resurrection.
“In this dark hour of history,” he said, “it has pleased God to send us to spread the fragrance of Christ where the stench of death reigns. Let us renew our ‘yes’ to this mission that calls for unity and brings peace.”
