Advent and Christmas in Rome
As the Church prepares for and celebrates the birth of Christ during Advent and the Christmas season, Rome is filled with beautiful traditions. Below are some recommendations to help you plan your pilgrimage to Rome during this Holy Season.
The information has been updated as of October 8, 2026.
In addition to the events listed below, the Holy Father is expected to lead the Angelus prayer at 12:00 (noon) in St. Peter’s Square on the Feast of Saint Stephen (December 26) as well as on each Sunday. To confirm that the Holy Father will lead the Angelus prayer on the date you have in mind, we kindly invite you to visit the official Papal calendar (Calendar of Activities – December 2026 | Vatican.va) closer to the day, in case of any changes.
Pope Leo is also expected to give a General Audience most Wednesdays in December and January (except on Wednesday, January 6, 2027, the feast of the Epiphany). Tickets for the Wednesday audiences are usually much easier to obtain than Papal Mass tickets. To request tickets for an audience, please use the online request form indicated at this link: Wednesday General Audiences
Mass in English by the Tomb of St. Peter
On the first Saturday of each month, we would like to invite you to join us for Mass in English, celebrated in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica – right by the tomb of St. Peter.
The Mass begins at 7:15 AM, so we recommend arriving to St. Peter’s Square around 6:45-7:00 AM to allow time to pass through security. The meeting point inside the Basilica is outside the sacristy (close to the St. Joseph Altar). If you have difficulties finding it, please look for the Sisters of Mercy in navy blue habits, and they will show you where to go.
Date TBD – Nativity and Tree Unveiling
During the Advent season, the Nativity Scene in St. Peter’s Square will be unveiled, and the Christmas tree will be lit up for the first time. The tree and Nativity Scene will likely remain on display until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which will end the Christmas season, on Sunday, 10 January 2026.
This year’s Nativity scene will be from the town of Atessa, Italy, and the Christmas tree will come from the Cugno dell’Acero forest in the municipality of Terranova di Pollino (Potenza, Italy). For more information, you can visit this news bulletin on the Vatican City State website.
December 8 – Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is a public holiday in Rome, and the traditional beginning of the Christmas season in Italy.
On this Holy Day of Obligation, we invite you to join us for Mass in English at the Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia, at 9:00 AM. The Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia is only three blocks from St. Peter’s Square on Via dei Penitenzieri 12 and has been hosting pilgrims to Rome since the 8th century. This Mass always ends with enough time to have a coffee and then walk over to St. Peter’s Square in time for the Angelus with the Holy Father. The Church of Santo Spirito is also the official Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Rome and houses relics of both St. Faustina and St. John Paul II.
At 12:00 noon, the Holy Father is expected to lead the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.
In the afternoon, the Holy Father traditionally visits the Spanish Steps for the traditional act of veneration of Mary Immaculate. To verify whether or not the traditional visit will happen this year, we recommend that you check the Official Vatical Calendar closer to December. Tickets are not required to join the Holy Father for this event, but pilgrims are advised to arrive early, around 2:30 PM, and to be prepared for large crowds.
Why Piazza di Spagna? On December 8, 1857, a statue of the Immaculate Conception was placed on top of a nearly 40-foot high column near the Spanish Steps to commemorate Pope Pius IX’s promulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary three years earlier. In 1953, Pope Pius XII began the tradition of the Holy Father visiting the statue to place flowers at the feet of Mary and to ask for her prayers for the world. Rome’s firefighters have the special mission of taking one of the Holy Father’s wreaths of flowers and placing it on the arm of the statue. The tradition has been continued by successive popes, often also including a visit to the icon of Maria Salus Populi Romani in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major.
Visit the Crèches in the Churches of Rome
For the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the churches in Rome will begin to put up their crèches. During your Advent pilgrimage to Rome, you can join the Italian families who often travel to Rome not only for their Christmas shopping, but most importantly to take their children on a little pilgrimage to visit the crèche in St. Peter’s Square, and to spend an afternoon visiting different churches to pray by the crèche scenes there.
100 Presepi in Vaticano
Each year, the Vatican puts up an exhibition with 100 crèche scenes under the left-hand side colonnade in St. Peter’s Square. The nativity scenes come from all over the world and are made of different materials. Previous years have featured not only more traditional ones but also crèche scenes made from chocolate or with pencil stubs.
The exhibition, promoted by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, will be open from December 8, 2026 until January 8, 2026. The exhibition is typically open from 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. each day, and is free of charge. More information about the free exhibition, as well as how you could apply to submit a Nativity scene for next year’s exhibition, can be found at www.100presepi.it/en/.
December 12 – Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
In the evening of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Holy Father typically celebrates a Mass in honor of the Patroness of the Americas. In 2026, the Holy Father is not expected to celebrate this Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.
December 24 and December 25 – Christmas Mass with the Holy Father
On Christmas Eve, the Holy Father traditionally celebrates Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. This year, Pope Leo is also expected to celebrate a Mass on Christmas morning at 10 AM. Tickets for both Christmas Masses with the Holy Father are unfortunately very hard to obtain, since they are celebrated inside St. Peter’s Basilica. Pilgrims who are not granted tickets may view the Mass from the large screens outdoors in St. Peter’s Square, where seats are usually set up. Pilgrims who are granted tickets should still plan to arrive several hours before the Mass to ensure entrance to the Basilica. If you are from the United States and you would like to inquire about tickets for this Papal Mass, please contact us.
Some other options to consider for Christmas Mass in Rome:
Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major (Masses in Italian)
This Basilica, dedicated to Our Lady, has a relic of the manger of Jesus brought to Rome by St. Helena,
the mother of Constantine.
December 24 – Christmas Eve:
In 2025, Mass was at 11:00 PM
December 25 – Christmas Day
Historically, Masses have been offered at 7, 8, 9, 10, noon, and 6:00 PM.
The Papal Archbasilica of St. John Lateran (Masses in Italian)
This Basilica is the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome, and thus the Cathedral of the Holy Father. The Italian version of the website is updated much more frequently than the English version, so we recommend consulting that page and then using an online translator.
December 24 – Christmas Eve
Historically, Masses have been offered at 6:00 PM & Midnight
December 25 – Christmas Day
Historically, Masses have been offered at 8, 9, 10, 11, noon, and 5:00 PM
The Pantheon (Mass in Italian)
December 24 – Christmas Eve
In 2025, Mass was at 11:55 PM
December 25 – Christmas Day
In 2025, Mass was at 10:30 AM
December 25 – Christmas Day Mass in English in Santo Spirito in Sassia
We would like to invite you to join us for the celebration of Holy Mass in English, offered every Sunday and Solemnity, including Christmas Day, at the Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia, 9:00 a.m. The Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia is only three blocks from St. Peter’s Square on Via dei Penitenzieri 12 (00193 Roma) and has been hosting pilgrims to Rome since the 8th century.
Immediately following the Mass, you may wish to proceed directly to Saint Peter’s Square to attend the Urbi et Orbi Blessing given by the Holy Father at 12 noon.
December 25 – Urbi et Orbi (no tickets required)
On Christmas Day each year at 12:00 noon, the Holy Father gives the Urbi et Orbi (‘to the city [of Rome] and to the world’) blessing together with a Christmas greeting from the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica.
December 31 – Vespers and Te Deum
Traditionally, the Holy Father concludes the year by presiding at the Te Deum and First Vespers for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God in the evening of New Year’s Eve. It has long been a custom in Catholic churches to sing the Te Deum, the hymn of thanksgiving par excellence, on New Year’s Eve, to thank God for all of the blessings received over the course of the previous year, and then to invoke His blessings for the coming year. In Rome, historically, the Pope and cardinals resident in the city would attend the Te Deum ceremony on December 31st at the church of the Holy Name of Jesus, popularly known as “il Gesù”, the mother church of the Jesuit order. In recent years, however, the liturgy has generally been celebrated at St. Peter’s Basilica, together with First Vespers of the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and Eucharistic Benediction.
The liturgy is usually held in St. Peter’s Basilica on December 31 at 5:00 p.m. The tickets for the Te Deum and First Vespers for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God with the Holy Father are usually very limited, since this liturgy is celebrated indoors. If you are from the United States and you would like to inquire about tickets for this Papal liturgy, please contact us.
In case tickets are not granted, many of the other churches in Rome also have beautiful liturgies for the Te Deum on December 31. Two of the many churches that offered a Te Deum liturgy (in Italian) in 2025 are listed below. You can find information about the various churches’ Te Deum celebrations either on their websites, or on posters at the churches themselves once you arrive in Rome.
The Pantheon
Santo Spirito in Sassia
January 1 – Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
To inaugurate the new year and to place it under the protection of Mary, the Mother of God, the Holy Father traditionally presides over a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on New Year’s Day in the morning. Tickets for the Mass for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, with the Holy Father are usually very limited, since this Mass is celebrated inside St. Peter’s Basilica. If you are from the United States and you would like to inquire about tickets for this Papal Mass, please contact us.
Following the Papal Mass, the Holy Father also traditionally leads the Angelus and gives his Apostolic blessing in St. Peter’s Square at 12:00 noon. No tickets are required to attend the Angelus.
January 6 – Solemnity of Epiphany
Epiphany is a big feast in Italy – the kings arrive in the nativity scenes, and the good witch Befania brings sweets to the kids. It is also the last great Solemnity of the Christmas season, and the Holy Father therefore presides at Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in the morning. Tickets for the Mass for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord are usually very limited, since this Mass is celebrated inside St. Peter’s Basilica. If you are from the United States and you would like to inquire about tickets for this Papal Mass, please contact us.
January 12 – Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
On January 12, the Holy Father has traditionally celebrated a Mass for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord in the Sistine Chapel and baptized newborn children of Vatican employees. The tradition was begun by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1981, and the Mass, since 1983, has been celebrated in the beautiful Sistine Chapel.
The process for choosing the children who will have the privilege to be baptized by the Pope himself is supervised by the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, and is offered to children of couples married in the Church according to the Catholic rite. In order to be eligible, the child must be under one year old. Traditionally, they are the children of one of the Swiss Guards or of other lay officials of the Holy See and Roman Curia. Typically, each child can be accompanied by four guests: the two parents and the godfather and the godmother; the rest of the family can follow the ceremony live through Vatican Media.
Because of the strict space limitations in the Sistine Chapel, it is not possible to request tickets for this Papal Mass. However, the Mass is usually broadcast on the big screens in St. Peter’s Square, and the Holy Father will come to his office window at 12:00 noon to lead the Angelus and give his Apostolic blessing.
