Vatican Lenten Retreat to proceed without Pontiff

March 04, 2025

With Pope Francis hospitalized, the Vatican's annual Lenten Retreat—"in spiritual communion with the Holy Father"—will begin on Sunday, March 9, the Vatican has announced.

Father Roberto Pasolini, the preacher of the papal household, will lead the spiritual exercises, which will conclude on Friday, March 14. The retreat will be held in the Paul VI auditorium, with all officials and staff members of the Roman Curia invited to participate. During the week most Vatican offices will work on a reduced schedule.

This year's spiritual exercises will be the first preached retreat at the Vatican in several years. Traditionally the Pope and the top officials of the Roman Curia would attend the Lenten Retreat together at the Vatican, with the Pontiff appointing a preacher to lead the spiritual exercises. Pope Francis changed that routine by organizing the Lenten Retreat outside Rome, giving officials an opportunity to break completely from their usual routines.

In 2021, Pope Francis cancelled plans for this Lenten Retreat, citing concerns about the Covid epidemic, and encouraged Vatican officials to make their own spiritual retreats. Again in 2022, he did not schedule joint exercises for the Curia, citing the “continuing epidemiological emergency.” In 2023 and 2024, he encouraged Vatican officials to make their own private retreats, designating a week when they should close their offices for the Lenten exercises.

This year's Lenten Retreat has been opened to staff members and lay employees as well as leading officials of the Roman Curia, and will therefore require the use of the Vatican auditorium rather than a small chapel.

The March 4 announcement that the exercises would be held "in spiritual communion with the Holy Father" reflects the growing recognition that Pope Francis is not likely to be released from the Gemelli Hospital any time in the near future.

 

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