The annual Latin Mass pilgrimage to Rome will not feature a Mass in the Vatican this year, with Bishop Athanasius Schneider instead offering Mass in St. Mary Major’s.  

What was viewed last year as a change in tune regarding the traditional Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica is now viewed in a more nuanced light. Organisers for the annual Ad Petri Sedem pilgrimage to Rome have announced that once again the pilgrims will process into the Vatican and pray at St. Peter’s relics, but that they cannot have a Mass celebrated there.

Instead, the Mass for the second day of the weekend pilgrimage will be offered by Bishop Athanasius Schneider in the papal basilica of Saint Mary Major.

The pilgrimage is held each year on the traditional feast of Christ the King at the end of October. Running from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, the event sees Latin Mass devotees gather in Rome for a series of liturgies across the city. Vespers is usually celebrated in the Pantheon on Friday night, before a large procession through the streets of Rome into the Vatican on Saturday, followed by Mass. However in recent years this aspect has not been guaranteed following the promulgation of Traditionis Custodes in July 2021.

Last year, Cardinal Raymond Burke offered a pontifical high Mass in the Vatican after raising the issue with Pope Leo XIV during their meeting in the summer.  

But prior to that in 2024 and 2023, permission for a Mass had been denied. Instead, pilgrims were allowed Eucharistic Benediction in the Vatican and to pray by the relics of St Peter.  

In 2022 and 2021, the pilgrimage Mass did take place inside the Vatican but no prelates were given permission to celebrate it. The year before, 2020, was disrupted by COVID-19 restrictions.

With this recent history, Cardinal Burke’s celebration of the pontifical Mass inside the Vatican last year was viewed as momentous and a signal of Leo XIV’s possible favour to the traditional liturgy.  

However, if such papal favour does exist then it does not carry enough weight to grant permission for the Mass inside the Vatican this year.  

Sources close to the pilgrimage organisers told this correspondent that the Mass at the Vatican had been canceled for this year and that news of this was communicated via the Secretariat of State.  

Instead, Cardinal Roland Makrickas – the archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore – offered the pilgrimage to celebrate Mass in his church.  

Pilgrims will now process to the Vatican to venerate the relics of St. Peter, before making their way across the city to have Mass in the basilica of St. Mary Major.

Makrickas is a public friend of the traditional Mass and the communities that celebrate it. Under his tenure as archpriest the traditional Mass has quietly made a gradual return in St Mary Major. It was he who granted permission for the Institute of Christ the King to celebrate a solemn Mass inside the basilica in May 2025, coincidentally on the very day that Pope Leo XIV was elected in conclave.  

The immense size of the pilgrimage last year surprised Vatican staff, who were unprepared for the large numbers of attendees at the Mass. Many pilgrims came from far abroad in order to support the event, encouraged by the sight of Cardinal Burke offering the Mass and understanding it as an impending change in circumstances for the traditional liturgy.

But sources close to the event told this correspondent last year that the immense media focus on the Mass risked backfiring, as opponents of the traditional liturgy in the Vatican would take umbrage at such widespread coverage. The Mass was a singular event, sources noted. Whilst very welcome, it was not a firm indication of any overturning of Pope Francis’ restrictions on the traditional liturgy.

Opposition to the traditional Mass from certain prominent figures in Rome is well known. The fact that news of the cancellation of this year’s Mass came from the Secretariat of State – rather than from the office of the archpriest of St. Peter’s as is appropriate – further demonstrates this. Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin is understood to have been heavily involved in moves to further restrict the traditional Mass in 2024, something he later denied to this correspondent.  

Parolin, along with Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the papal nuncio to France, and Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, was reported as being key supporters of Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola – Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW) – in a move to compile a new document ushering in restrictions on the traditional Mass. After intense media coverage of the rumoured text, it never emerged, and Pope Francis’ hospitalisation and subsequent death preoccupied the Vatican’s apparatus shortly afterwards.

Despite the change of circumstances regarding the Mass, sources close to the pilgrimage were keen to express their happiness at Makrickas’ offering a home for the Mass. They viewed it as a positive development and a sign of the cardinal's continued relationship with traditional communities and the old rite.

The full pilgrimage itinerary is found below:

Friday October 23, 2026

• 6:30 p.m: Pontifical vespers in the Basilica of Santa Maria ad Martyres (Pantheon) presided over by Bishop Athanasius Schneider

Saturday, October 24, 2026

• 10:00 a.m: Rosary before the Basilica of Santi Celso e Giuliano

• 11:00 a.m: Departure of the procession towards Saint Peter's Basilica

• 12:00 a.m: Arrival in Saint Peter's Square/Checkpoints/and entry into Saint Peter's Basilica

• 13:00 p.m: Time of prayer in St. Peter's Basilica

• 15:00 p.m: Mass at the high altar of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, celebrated by Bishop Athanasius Schneider.

Sunday October 25, 2026

• 08:30 a.m: Mass of thanksgiving of Christ the King in the Basilica of San Giovanni Battista dei Fiorentini celebrated by Canon Antoine Landais ICKSPI

• 11:00 a.m: Solemn closing Mass of Christ the King at the Trinita dei pellegrini

• 16:00 p.m: Mass of thanksgiving of Christ the King in the church of Sant'Anna in Laterano celebrated by Msgr. Marco Agostini

Michael Haynes is an English journalist in the Holy See Press Corps. He serves as Vatican Correspondent for the Catholic Herald, while readers can follow him at Per Mariam and on X @MLJHaynes.

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