Pope Leo revives decades-gone tradition on first Good Friday as pontiff

NewsWorldEuropePope Leo revives decades-gone tradition on first Good Friday as pontiffPope Francis never carried the cross, but participated in the procession until his health worsenedVia AP news wire Friday 03 April 2026 21:07 BSTBookmarkBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popover{"translations":{"comments":"Go to comments","share":"Share","copyLink":"Copy link","bookmark":"Bookmark","removeBookmark":"Remove bookmark"},"showComments":false,"showBookmark":true,"articleId":"CF1:2951610To1","articleMeta":{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-leo-stations-of-the-cross-2026-good-friday-b2951655.html","title":"Pope revives decades-gone tradition on first Good Friday as pontiff"}}open image in gallery{"id":"trigger-autogallery-16387","index":0}Pope Leo XIV presides over the Mass of the Lord's Supper for Holy Thursday at St. John Lateran archbasilica in Rome, on April 2, 2026 (AFP via Getty Images)On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly international news dispatchEmail*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice{"className":"sc-1ge0fwe-0","newsletterData":{"regSourceNewsletter":"IND_On_The_Ground_Newsletter","regTitle":"On The Ground","subscriptionGroup":"on_the_ground","subscriptionGroupId":"14806361-6435-4d19-b06e-05326605fb01","pathPrefix":["/news/world/europe","/news/world/middle-east","/news/world/australasia","/news/world/africa","/asia"],"associatedAuthors":["Bel Trew","Sam Kiley"],"title":"On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","mobileTitle":"Get a weekly international news dispatch","lengthenedMobileTitle":"Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","imageSrc":"https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/images/newsletters/onTheGround1_1.png","newsletterKey":"receiveOnTheGround","reg...