Leo XIV will carry the cross through all fourteen stations of the Via Crucis on Friday evening at Rome's Colosseum. Prevost intends to return to tradition, albeit no Pope has ever carried the cross for the entire Via Dolorosa. "I will carry the cross so that we, too, can be bearers of peace and not of hatred", he stated to reporters as he left Castel Gandolfo. Since 1965, when Paul VI reinstated this important Holy Week rite at the Colosseum, a monument symbolizing Christian martyrdom in Roman times, John Paul II and Benedict XVI have only carried the cross to the first and last stations. Pope Francis presided over the liturgy from the Palatine Hill, but has not been there in previous years due to health difficulties. The rite has its origins in the distant fourth century. The meditations for the Stations of the Cross, to be read on Friday, have been entrusted to Father Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land from 2016 to 2025. The texts are not yet known, but it is likely that, in addition to references to Francis of Assisi's prophecy—whose 800th anniversary is this year—the reflections would focus on the Middle East, which has been decimated by decades of war. Jerusalem will thus be at the heart of the Roman Rite.