Pope Leo XIV to carry cross for entire procession, the first pontiff to do so in decades

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV will personally carry the wooden cross through all 14 stations of the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum on his first Good Friday as pontiff, marking the first time in decades that a pope carries the cross to every station.

“I think it will be an important sign because of what the pope represents, a spiritual leader in the world today, and for this voice, that everyone wants to hear, that says Christ still suffers,” Leo told reporters this week outside of the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo. “I carry all of this suffering in my prayer.”

John Paul II carried the cross for the entire procession from his first Good Friday as pontiff in 1979 until his hip surgery in 1995, when he carried it just part of the way, according to AP reports at the time.

For the first two years of his papacy, Benedict XVI carried the cross for the first station inside the Colosseum, then followed other bearers in the procession that ends on a platform on the Palatine Hill.

Pope Francis never carried the cross, but participated in the procession until his health worsened. He died after a long illness last year on Easter Monday, which fell on April 21.

Pope John Paul II was just 58 when he became pope, and was known as a hiker and outdoorsman. His two successors were in their late 70s when they began their papacies, and Francis was missing part of a lung due to a pulmonary infection as a young man.

At 70, Leo is physically fit and an avid tennis player and swimmer. Before becoming pope, Leo would work out regularly at a gym near the Vatican, with a plan befitting a man in his early 50s, according to his former trainer.

Crowds are expected to gather outside of the Colosseum for the Way of the Cross, which commemorates the final hours of Jesus’ life, from his death sentence to taking up the cross to his crucifixion, death and burial. The procession ends outside the Colosseum atop the Palatine Hill.

The meditations, which are read aloud at each station, were composed by the Rev. Francesco Patton, who was custos (or custodian) of the Holy Land 2016-25, charged, among other things, with looking after sacred sites

“The Way of the Cross is not intended for those who lead a pristinely pious or abstractly recollected life,” Patton wrote in his introduction. “Instead, it is the exercise of one who knows that faith, hope and charity must be incarnated in the real world.”

On Holy Saturday, the pontiff will preside over Easter vigil rites at St. Peter’s Square and lead Roman Catholics into Christianity’s most joyous celebration marking Christ’s resurrection.

On Easter Sunday, the pope will celebrate an open-air Mass in St. Peter’s Square before delivering his Easter message and offer the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” blessing to the city (of Rome) and the world.

Pope Leo XIV attends the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Catholic Good Friday, Friday, April 3, 2026 (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV attends the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Catholic Good Friday, Friday, April 3, 2026 (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The Artemis II astronauts have captured our blue planet’s brilliant beauty as they zoom ever closer to the moon.

NASA released the crew’s first downlinked images Friday, 1 1/2 days into the first astronaut moonshot in more than half a century.

The first photo taken by commander Reid Wiseman shows a curved slice of Earth in one of the capsule’s windows. The second shows the entire globe with the oceans topped by swirling white tendrils of clouds. A green aurora even glows, according to NASA.

As of midmorning Friday, Wiseman and his crew were 100,000 miles (160,000 kilometers) from Earth and were quickly gaining on the moon with another 160,000 miles (258,000 kilometers) to go. They should reach their destination on Monday.

The three Americans and one Canadian will swing around the moon in their Orion capsule, hang a U-turn and then head straight back home without stopping. They fired Orion's main engine Thursday night that set them on their course.

After Mission Control shifted the position of their capsule, the entire Earth complete with northern lights filled their windows.

“It was the most spectacular moment, and it paused all four of us in our tracks,” Wiseman said in a TV interview.

They're the first lunar travelers since Apollo 17 in 1972.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

This image taken from video provided by NASA shows the Artemis II crew, from left, Canadien astronaut and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman, mission specialist Christina Koch and pilot Victor Glover as they appear on a video conference from the moon's orbit Thursday, April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This image provided by NASA shows a downlink image of Earth taken by NASA’s Artemis II astronaut commander Reid Wiseman inside the Orion capsule on Friday, April 3, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This image provided by NASA shows a view of Earth taken by NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman from of the Orion spacecraft's window after completing the translunar injection burn on April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)