On jueves santo, Pope Leo XIV began the rites of his first Holy Week as pontiff with the Chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, using the homily to press for a Christian mission that moves away from “arrogance” and “dominance logics. ”
What Happens When Jueves Santo becomes a message about power and service?
Speaking before thousands of faithful and the clergy of Rome during the Chrism Mass, Leo XIV said it is “priority” to remember that good cannot come from arrogance, whether in pastoral life or in social and political life. He outlined an approach he described as careful and grounded in sharing life, disinterested service, renunciation of calculated strategies, dialogue, and respect.
He also lamented that evangelizing mission, across history, has not infrequently been distorted by “dominance logics” alien to the path of Jesus Christ. The pope framed renewal as beginning with reconciliation with origins and making peace with the past without becoming imprisoned by it. “Love is true if it is disarmed, ” he said, adding that it needs little, no ostentation, and guards with delicacy weakness and nakedness.
Leo XIV told religious leaders there is no good news for the poor if they arrive “with signs of power, ” and no authentic liberation without liberation from possession. He underlined that even places where secularization appears more advanced are not lands of conquest or reconquest, and he urged learning to accept being welcomed as part of learning how to welcome others.
In the homily, he cited Salvadoran martyr Óscar Arnulfo Romero and American Cardinal Joseph Bernardin as examples of self-giving even in the face of death and failure, and concluded with a call to renew unity and peace in what he described as a dark hour of history.
What If the Chrism Mass sets the tone for the entire Triduum?
The Chrism Mass of Holy Thursday is celebrated in cathedrals around the world and marks the beginning of the Paschal Triduum, described in the ceremony’s context as the central period of Holy Week. The liturgy commemorates the institution of the sacrament of holy orders by Jesus Christ during the Last Supper and is dedicated to priests renewing vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
During the ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica, the oils of catechumens, the sick, and chrism were blessed for use throughout the year in baptisms, confirmations, and anointing of the sick. Three silver ampullae were also blessed for use in Vatican celebrations.
The day’s agenda continued with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, where Leo XIV was set to wash the feet of twelve priests. The schedule was presented as part of a wider set of rites he will preside over in his first Holy Week as pope, following years in which Pope Francis was absent from many acts due to health conditions, as described in the context provided.
What Happens Next across Good Friday, the Colosseum, and Easter rites?
Looking ahead to Good Friday, Leo XIV was set to preside over the Celebration of the Passion in the Vatican basilica and later lead his first Crucis at Rome’s Colosseum. In that nighttime rite, he will personally carry the cross through the fourteen stations in the Flavian Amphitheater.
For the meditations of the Colosseum Crucis, the task of writing was entrusted to Father Francesco Patton, a Friar Minor who served as Custos of the Holy Land from 2016 to 2025. The Holy See Press Office announced the meditations would be published Friday morning around 12: 00. Patton, speaking from Mount Nebo in Jordan, has repeatedly been a spokesperson for the pain of Middle Eastern populations, described as especially acute in the current delicate moment.
The Holy Week rites will continue with the Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday and culminate with the Easter Sunday Mass, followed by further elements not fully detailed in the provided context.
In the immediate sequence of events, the message delivered on jueves santo—a mission “disarmed” of ostentation and dominance—now stands as the interpretive frame for the Vatican’s most visible liturgies of the Triduum, from the altar of St. Peter’s to the stations of the cross at the Colosseum.
