LIVE UPDATES: Canonization of Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, the first saints of Pope Leo XIV

Vatican City, Apr 6, 2017 / 12:32 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- This Holy Thursday, Pope Francis will wash the feet of prison inmates and say Mass at their penitentiary.

The Pope will visit Paliano prison south of Rome the afternoon of April 13. He will make a private visit and say the Mass of the Last Supper, Vatican Radio reports.

For Holy Thursday in 2013, just after becoming Pope, Francis visited the Casal del Marmo youth detention center in Rome and celebrated Mass there. This occasion was notable for being the first time a Pope included females and non-Christians among those whose feet he washed.

At the time, liturgical law permitted only men’s feet to be washed in the Holy Thursday ceremony.

In January 2016, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments modified the Roman Missal to allow for women’s feet to be washed at the Holy Thursday Mass.

The decision was made in concert with Pope Francis.

In a letter to the congregation’s prefect, Cardinal Robert Sarah, Pope Francis wrote: “For some time I have been reflecting on the rite of the washing of the feet, which forms part of the Liturgy of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, with the intention of improving the ways in which it is put into practice, so that we fully express the meaning of the gesture made by Jesus in the Upper Room, his gift of self until the end for the salvation of the world, his boundless charity.”

The Roman Missal’s text was modified to say that “those chosen from among the People of God are accompanied by the ministers”, while it had previously read: “the men chosen are accompanied by the ministers”.

Many parishes around the world had already been including women in the ritual for years; the decree of the Congregation for Divine Worship made the practice licit.

In 2014, Pope Francis said the Holy Thursday Mass at the Don Gnocchi center for the disabled.

In 2015 he visited Rome’s Rebibbia prison for the Holy Thursday Mass.

For Holy Thursday in 2016 Pope Francis visited a center for asylum seekers in Castelnuovo di Porto, a municipality just north of Rome. He washed the feet of refugees, who included Muslims, Hindus, and Coptic Orthodox Christians.

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Pope Francis waves to the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square to hear his Angelus address n Sunday, June 9, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jun 9, 2024 / 09:05 am (CNA).

Pope Francis urged people to reflect on Sunday on whether they are sacrificing their serenity and freedom to be enslaved by money, power, and pleasure.

Speaking in his Angelus address on June 9, the pope asked people to contemplate the temptations that can imprison us and the freedom found in Christ

“If we let ourselves be conditioned by the quest for pleasure, power, money, or consensus, we become slaves to these things,” he said.

“If instead we allow God’s freely-given love to fill us and expand our heart, and if we let it overflow spontaneously by giving it back to others with our whole selves without fear, calculation, or conditioning, then we grow in freedom and spread its good fragrance around us in our homes, in our families, and in our communities.”

In his speech from the window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, the pope highlighted the many ways in which “Jesus was a free man.”

Jesus was not enslaved by wealth, but embraced “a poor life full of uncertainties, freely taking care of the sick and whoever came to ask him for help, without ever asking for anything in return.”

“He was free with regard to power,” Francis added. “Indeed, despite calling many to follow him, He never obliged anyone to do so, nor did he ever seek out the support of the powerful, but always took the side of the least, teaching his disciples to do likewise.”

The Lord was also free from the need “for fame and approval, and for this reason, he never gave up speaking the truth,” he said.

Pope Francis underlined that Jesus never gave up speaking the truth “even at the cost of not being understood or becoming unpopular — even to the point of dying on the cross.” The pope added that Jesus did not allow himself “to be intimidated, bought, or corrupted by anything or anyone.”

Pope Francis asked people to spend some time reflecting on “this freedom of Jesus,” and then to examine their consciences as to whether there are any areas in life where they are “imprisoned by the myths of money, power, and success.”

After leading the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square in the Angelus prayer in Latin, the pope made a passionate appeal for peace in the Holy Land, asking people to pray for the ceasefire negotiations and urging the international community to ensure that humanitarian aid arrives for those who are most in need.

Pope Francis also asked people to pray for the people who are suffering in Myanmar and Ukraine, giving a special shoutout to some Ukrainians who were in the crowd waving flags. 

“May the Virgin Mary help us live and love like Jesus taught us, in the freedom of the children of  God,” Pope Francis said.

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Pope Leo XIV stands before the original Our Lady of Fatima statue at a Marian vigil in St. Peter’s Square, Rome, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025 / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Oct 11, 2025 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Tens of thousands of people joined Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday to pray for peace in the world.

Before the statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which was brought to Rome from Portugal for the Oct. 11–12 Jubilee of Marian Spiritualities, the pope entrusted believers to the Mother of God to guide the Church in its “pilgrimage of hope.”

During the special prayer vigil, which included a contemplative recitation of the rosary and time for Eucharistic adoration, the Holy Father delivered a short address and encouraged those present to ask the Mother of God for the gift of a “listening heart.”

“Our hope is guided by the gentle and persistent light of Mary’s words as recounted in the Gospel,” the pope said.

“Her last words at the wedding feast in Cana [‘Do whatever he tells you’] are particularly precious,” he said. “These words, which almost seem to be a testament, must be treasured by her children, as any mother’s testament would be.”

Sharing reflections on the life of Christ, which are included in the rosary prayer, Leo said peace in the world is not achieved through “power and money” but through prayer, listening, and living the Gospel message.

“Disarm your hands and, even more importantly, your hearts. As I have said before, peace is unarmed and disarming,” he said. 

“It is not deterrence, but fraternity; it is not an ultimatum, but dialogue,” he continued. “Peace will not come as the result of victories over the enemy, but as the fruit of sowing justice and courageous forgiveness.”

Addressing the “powerful of the world,” the pope said it is necessary to “lay down your sword” and have the “courage to disarm” to achieve peace.

“At the same time, it is an invitation to each one of us to recognize that no idea, faith or policy justifies killing,” he added.

Encouraging those who desire peace and the end of conflict and violence, the Holy Father said “take courage” and “never give up.”

“Blessed are you: God gives joy to those who spread love in the world and to those who choose to make peace with their enemies rather than defeat them,” he said.

“Peace is a journey, and God walks with you,” he continued. “The Lord creates and spreads peace through his friends who are at peace in their hearts, and they in turn become peacemakers and instruments of his peace.”

Towards the end of the prayer vigil, the Holy Father turned to Mary, the “Queen of Peace” to whom the Church can turn in time of need.

“Teach us to live and bear witness to Christian love, by welcoming everyone as brothers and sisters; to renounce the darkness of selfishness in order to follow Christ, the true light of humanity,” he said.

“Virgin of peace, Gate of Sure Hope, accept the prayers of your children!” he prayed.

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