How to stream Pope Francis' Good Friday masses
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.
There are several options for watching virtually. The simplest is to tune into the Vatican's ongoing live stream at the corresponding time, below. The Vatican's full Holy Week streaming schedule, which is listed in Rome's time zone, can be viewed here.
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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.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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