The schedule of liturgical celebrations to be presided over by Leo XIV at the end of 2025 in Rome was made public by the Vatican on September 30. Among the major dates, the pontiff will celebrate Christmas Eve Mass at 10 p.m. on December 24 in St. Peter's Basilica — an hour later than in the last years of Pope Francis' pontificate — and also a Mass on the morning of December 25, which is a new development.
The newly released calendar of papal liturgical celebrations for November 2025-January 2026 reveals a busy schedule of public Masses for Pope Leo XIV.
For the first Christmas of his pontificate, he will give the solemn blessing at noon. He will also preside over several celebrations in honor of the Virgin Mary (December 8, December 12, January 1).
Five celebrations in November
According to the calendar published on Tuesday, Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to preside over five celebrations in Rome in November. On Saturday, November 1, All Saints' Day, a Mass is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in St. Peter's Square, during which the pope will proclaim Cardinal John Henry Newman a “Doctor of the Church.”
On November 3, the pope will celebrate a Mass in memory of Pope Francis and the cardinals and bishops who have died during the past year, at 11 a.m. in St. Peter's Basilica. For the moment, there is no mention of him celebrating a Mass in a cemetery for November 2 — All Souls' Day — as Francis used to do.
On November 9, for the feast of the dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica — the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome—a Mass will be held there at 9:30 a.m.
The pontiff has an appointment as part of the Jubilee, the great event of the Catholic Church organized every 25 years: he will preside over a Mass with the poor who have come on pilgrimage to Rome, in St. Peter's Basilica at 10 a.m. on November 16.
On November 23, a Mass is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in St. Peter's Square for the Solemnity of Christ the King, which closes the liturgical year for Catholics.
The calendar does not give any other dates for the end of November and the beginning of December. During this period, the head of the Catholic Church may be traveling to Turkey and Lebanon—although this trip has not yet been confirmed by the Holy See.
December, before Christmas
For the Marian feast of the Immaculate Conception, a public holiday in Rome, on December 8, the American-Peruvian pontiff will continue the tradition started by his predecessors: he will visit Rome's historic center to pay homage to the crowned Virgin Mary, whose statue overlooks the Spanish Steps, at 4 p.m.
On December 12, he will continue a custom that began at the end of Benedict XVI's pontificate and was continued by Pope Francis: Mass on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Virgin venerated as the “Empress of the Americas,” in St. Peter's Basilica at 4 p.m.
For the Jubilee of Prisoners on December 14, the last themed jubilee of the Holy Year, the pope will preside over a Mass at 10 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica.
Christmas schedule
For Christmas, the feast that marks the birth of Jesus, Pope Leo XIV is to celebrate two Masses, which is a novelty compared to his predecessors Francis and Benedict XVI.
On December 24, Midnight Mass will begin at 10 p.m., as under Benedict XVI in the last years of his pontificate. The German pope celebrated this Mass at midnight—the traditional ancient hour—for the last time in 2008. Although Pope Francis brought the time forward to 9:30 p.m. after his election, starting in 2020 he celebrated this liturgy at 7:30 p.m.
On December 25, Leo XIV will again preside over a Mass for Christmas Day at 10 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica. John Paul II also had this custom in the early days of his pontificate, but his predecessors did not continue it.
At noon on the same day, the 267th pope will give the Urbi et Orbi blessing – to the city and to the world – reserved for major Catholic holidays. Leo XIV has already conferred it once since his arrival on the throne of Peter, on the day of his election last May 8.
New Year's festivities
The Vatican will also mark the transition to the new year. The pope will pray Vespers and the Te Deum in thanksgiving for the past year on December 31 at 5 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica. Then, the next day, January 1, 2026, a Mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. in the same basilica, for the feast of Mary, Mother of God and World Day of Peace.
On January 6 at 9:30 a.m. in St. Peter's Basilica, on the feast of the Epiphany—in memory of the Magi who came to worship the Child Jesus—Leo XIV will solemnly close the 2025 Jubilee with the closing of the Holy Door of the basilica. This door, located to the right of the main nave, which was opened by Pope Francis on December 24, 2024, will then be walled up until the next jubilee in 2033.
To conclude the liturgical season of Christmas, a final Mass is scheduled in the Pope's calendar for the feast of the Baptism of Jesus: on January 11, he will baptize the children of Vatican employees—as his predecessors did—in the Sistine Chapel at 9:30 a.m.
