Lenten Campaign 2025
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Pope Francis, who has been in the hospital since February 14 of this year, didn’t take part in the traditional Ash Wednesday Mass on March 5, 2025. The question of whether or not the Pontiff will participate in the Easter celebrations, the heart of the liturgical year for the Catholic Church, can legitimately be raised. Several precedents make it possible to anticipate this eventuality.
First, the Pope’s non-participation in Holy Week doesn’t pose a problem for the proper functioning of the Church. “The Pope can quite easily be ill and miss an important celebration of the liturgical year, as he has done several times in recent years. All he has to do is delegate the celebration of the Mass to a cardinal,” says French canonist Msgr. Patrick Valdrini.
In 2022, the Pope had knee problems and was therefore unable to take part in the Holy Thursday celebrations. He also canceled his participation in the Good Friday Way of the Cross in 2023 and 2024 due to health problems. However, he has never missed Easter Sunday Mass since his election in 2013.
Holy Week during quarantine in 2020
Holy Week was also disrupted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The major events of the Easter Triduum — from Thursday to Sunday — were often rescheduled or canceled, and masses were celebrated in front of a few dozen anonymous worshippers.
Thus, there was no Chrism Mass or Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum on Good Friday that year. Neither did the washing of the feet on Holy Thursday or the ritual of the passing of the Easter fire during the Vigil on Saturday evening take place.
These numerous adjustments did not, however, weaken the solemnity of this unusual Holy Week, which was followed by many faithful from all over the world at a distance. Many television viewers were able to see the unprecedented image of Pope Francis standing alone in the empty nave of St. Peter’s in Rome to deliver the Urbi et Orbi blessing on Easter Day.
Easter and sede vacante
It’s also theoretically possible for Holy Week to be celebrated during a period of sede vacante, which begins after the resignation or death of the pope. “In such a case, it’s the college of cardinals, gathered in congregations, that would decide on the course of action. And the cardinals would probably avoid holding the conclave during Holy Week,” says Msgr. Patrick Valdrini. Such a scenario has already occurred in history, the most recent being the conclaves of 1721 and 1769.
In 1721, the conclave lasted more than a month and encompassed Holy Week. A contemporary witness reports that the cardinals, during that week, had “continued the usual ballots, except on Easter morning, when they exercised their acts of Christian piety by celebrating Holy Mass.”
In 1769, the conclave had lasted more than three months, and had been disrupted during Holy Week by the arrival in Rome of Emperor Joseph II. The latter had been allowed, despite the rules in force, to meet with the cardinals even though they were in conclave, and had even been able to examine ballot papers, according to a chronicler.
The chronicler also reports that the cardinals “decided to illuminate the dome and façade of the Vatican basilica on the evening of Easter Sunday” in honor of their guest.
The Stations of the Cross of John Paul II in 2005
More recently, another memorable Holy Week was that of 2005, which occurred a few days before the death of John Paul II. In the book Lasciatemi andare, Dr. Renato Buzzonetti, personal physician to John Paul II, reports that the Polish pontiff had tried unsuccessfully to postpone a tracheotomy at the end of February 2005 in order to be able to celebrate Easter.
The Pope had lost his ability to express himself clearly, and was finally discharged from the hospital a week before Palm Sunday. The mass opening Holy Week was presided over by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Vicar of Rome, with the pontiff watching the ceremony from the window of his office in the Apostolic Palace. “Unable to speak, he had managed, with difficulty, to wave an olive branch,” recalls Romilda Ferrauto, then a journalist for Vatican Radio.
As his condition didn’t improve, John Paul II delegated cardinals to preside over each celebration, and was forced to give up the Good Friday Stations of the Cross. The Vatican Television Center then set up a video link from the Pope’s private chapel, showing his back as he sat in front of a screen to follow the Via Crucis.
During the last station of the Way of the Cross, John Paul II took a crucifix with trembling hands and held it close to him. “It was a moment of great emotion, truly unforgettable. Cardinal Ratzinger had replaced him for the liturgy, and his meditations that evening played a large part in his subsequent election,” Romilda Ferrauto recalls.
“Thy will be done”
On Easter Sunday, John Paul II appeared at the window of the Apostolic Palace, with Mass being celebrated by the Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano. Suffering greatly, shaken by tremors, he was unable to pronounce the Urbi et Orbi blessing. He limited himself instead to a wave of the hand in front of an emotional crowd of faithful present in St. Peter’s Square.
“It might be better for me to die, if I cannot fulfill the mission entrusted to me … Thy will be done … Totus tuus,” he is said to have told his secretary, Stanisław Dziwisz, according to the book Lasciatemi andare. John Paul II would only reappear in public once, on Wednesday, March 30, the last day before the start of his final decline, which ended with his death on April 2.
And today we celebrate...