Thousands of people normally attend the pope's Holy Week celebrations at the Vatican, but needless to say things are going to be a little different in the Eternal City this year. For what is believed to be the first time in modern history, "all the Liturgical Celebrations of Holy Week will take place without the physical presence of the faithful" due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Vatican writes.
Pope Francis will still head two masses on Friday: The Vatican Liturgy of the Lord's Passion at 12 p.m. ET, and the Stations of the Cross, or Via Crucis, at 3 p.m. ET, which will be held in front of Saint Peter's Basilica rather than at the Colosseum, as is traditional.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
CatholicTV will also stream the Celebration of the Lord's Passion with Pope Francis at 12 p.m. ET, and rebroadcast it at 5 p.m. ET. The Stations of the Cross will be broadcast at 8 p.m. ET. You can watch their broadcasts here, and access the CatholicTV schedule here. Another option is to view the events through Aleteia; you can access the Celebration of the Passion here and the Stations of the Cross here, along with more information about this year's liturgies.
Forbes also notes that the Holy Week events will be "archived for later viewing," in case you miss them. You can browse the Vatican's YouTube videos here.
-
'Enforcement of rulings remains spotty at best'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Book reviews: 'King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution' and 'Gwyneth: The Biography'Feature How the Iranian Revolution began and Gwyneth Paltrow's life in the spotlight
-
Garrett Graff's 6 favorite books that shine new light on World War IIFeature The author recommends works by James D. Hornfischer, Craig L. Symonds, and more
-
Southern Baptists endorse gay marriage banSpeed Read The largest US Protestant denomination voted to ban same-sex marriage and pornography at their national meeting
-
Prevost elected first US pope, becomes Leo XIVspeed read Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost is a Chicago native who spent decades living in Peru
-
Pope Francis dies at 88Speed Read 'How much contempt is stirred up at times toward the vulnerable, the marginalized and migrants,' Pope Francis wrote in his final living message
-
Pope returns to Vatican after long hospital staySpeed Read Pope Francis entered the hospital on Feb. 14 and battled double pneumonia
-
Texas megachurch founder charged with sex crimesSpeed Read Robert Morris, former spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump, is accused of sexually abusing a child
-
Pope Francis suffers setback with respiratory episodesSpeed Read The 88-year-old pope continues to battle pneumonia
-
US Christianity's long decline has halted, Pew findsSpeed Read 62% of Americans call themselves Christian, a population that has been 'relatively stable' for the past five years
-
Pope Francis hospitalized with 'complex' illnessSpeed Read The Vatican says their leader has a respiratory infection, raising new concerns about his health
