Pope Francis leads faithful at Colosseum

The annual Good Friday Stations of the Cross ceremony takes place at 21.15 on 18 April at the Colosseum where thousands of faithful are expected to join Pope Francis in prayer.

Known in Italy as the Via Crucis, the Stations of the Cross recall the final hours of Jesus and the devotion commemorating the Passion. This year the meditations and scripture-based prayers accompanying the 14 stations were written by Archbishop Giancarlo Maria Bregantini of Campobasso-Boiano, the president of the Italian bishops’ commission for social problems, labour, justice and peace.

On 19 April, Holy Saturday, the pope celebrates the Easter vigil at St Peter’s basilica at 20.30. The following day he will preside at the Easter Mass in St Peter's Square at 10.15 before imparting the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing. Tickets (free of charge) are required for the St Peter's ceremonies but not for the Via Crucis at the Colosseum. For further information contact the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household.

Via dei Fori Imperiali, the street from Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum, is closed to traffic from Good Friday until 4 May, for the city's Easter ceremonies and the double canonisation at the Vatican on 27 April.

See Wanted in Rome's list of English-language religious services in Rome during Easter Week.